
Book »L^Li So 



Cop\TiglitN°_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Bible Study in the Work of Life 



Books by the Same Author 



World Wide Bible Study 
The Bible and Modern Life 
Why Go To College. 
College Men and the Bible 
The Man of Egypt 



Bible Study in the 
Work of Life 



By 

Clayton Sedgwick Cooper, A.M. 



Book I. 



Ube "Rnicherbocfter ipresB 

New York City 
1914 






Copyright by 

CLAYTON SEDGWICK COOPER 

1914 



M -6 19/4 



0C1,A37G194 

Ubc "ftnicl^crbocficr prcM, Hew J^rfc 



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5^ 



The first and almost the only book deserving of universal atten- 
tion is the Bible. The Bible is the book of all others to be read at 
all ages and in all conditions of human life ; not to be read once or 
twice through and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of 
one or two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted except 
by some overruling necessity. I speak as a man of the world to men 
of the world, and I say to you, ** Search the Scriptures.** I have for 
many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once a 
year. . . . It is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of know- 
ledge and virtue. 

John Quincy Adams. 



PREFATORY NOTE 

" I would study the Bible if I only knew how to 
begin! " This remark is commonly heard among people 
regardless of class, race, nationality, or shade of intel- 
lectual or religious belief. 

This book is the first of a series of four books in which 
the author, with the assistance of invaluable councilors, 
aims to provide a suggestive plan of Bible study for each 
week of the year and for every day in the week, covering 
thereby the main truths of the Christian Scriptures, as 
these truths are related to the work of life. 

These studies are arranged for both personal and class 
use, the question material and references at the end of 
each study being designed for discussion in groups, and 
also for starting the individual's thought toward a plan 
of Bible study of his own. 

The author is indebted to a wide circle of scholars, 
public men, and religious leaders, representing many 
sections and several different nations, for criticism of 
subject matter and for hints regarding the point of view 
and needs of present-day men and women. We present 
this first book in the series, cherishing the hope that 
those who find these studies helpful will cooperate with 
us in extending the knowledge of the Bible, for in the 
words of Archbishop Temple, 

** We can hardly do anything, I doubt if we can do 
anything for people to be compared with helping them 
to understand the Bible." 

New York City, 

March j, igi4. 



vH 



CONTENTS 



Introduction .... 

CHAPTER 

I. Why Study the Bible ? 

II. What Is Christianity ? 

III. Choosing and Conducting a Life- Work 

IV. The Place and Use of Money 
V. Education in Religion 

VI. Is Prayer Essential for Success 

VII. God's Laws for Happiness . 

VIII. The Art of Being Quiet . 

IX. God's Laws for Health 

X. What Makes a Friend ? 

XI. The Man Who Works 

XII. Do We Really Believe God ? 



PAGE 

iii 

3 
19 

35 

47 
61 

75 
87 

lOI 

115 
129 

143 
157 



IX 



1 



INTRODUCTION 

The object of these studies is to assist the modem man 
to discover the Bible and to apply its teachings to his 
every-day life. 

Modern scholarship has accomplished much in the way 
of breaking the Bible out of the polarized, theological, 
and dogmatic form in which controversial and sectarian 
strife confined it. Yet for the average man these books 
of erudite, historical scholars, with their endless, scientific 
facts and comparison of sources and dates, are almost as 
impregnable as the more ancient treatises of theology. 

There still remains the need for a kind of study of 
the Bible that will approach this literature that Goethe 
called the ''Great Book of the Nations," with simple 
directness relative to the ordinary problems of every-day 
life, the problems that must be solved practically by the 
twentieth-century man whether he is running a system 
of shops or tenement houses, a cotton mill or a farm, a 
hospital or a bank. 

An incident which came to my notice while in China 
illustrates the point of view of these studies. A culti- 
vated Chinese gentleman, a Confucianist, was given a 
New Testament by an old American missionary, who 
asked the man to read it and consider the question of 
becoming a Christian. The Chinese, who was both in- 
telligent and sincere, read the Gospels for the first time, 
and after a month or two of thought upon the subject, 
returned to the missionary, whom he had known inti- 
mately for many years, and said: 

xi 



xii fntro5uction 



" I have read this Book with great interest — it is a 
great Book, and I am inclined to try these teachings; 
but/* he added, ** according to this Book you are not a 
Christian!" 

The old missionary was somewhat startled at this 
sweeping assertion and replied, '^ What do you mean?" 

The Conf ucianist explained his statement as follows : 

** These writings appear to me to state clearly the 
characteristics of a Christian. 

'* First, I read that a Christian is a man who is not 
handicapped by anxiety and worry, and is usually a 
happy man. He is one who knows that his God, who 
cares for the falling of the smallest bird, will surely care 
for him. This Book commands him to cast his care 
upon God, and it assures him that he will receive the 
gift of Peace. I read that Jesus said to His disciples 
that He gave them His joy, and He furthermore said, 
* Let not your heart be troubled.' I find that a 
Christian is an unworried man. 

''But," said the Chinese to his missionary friend, 
**you are the most worried man I know. You impress 
me as having a thousand cares. Indeed you are anxious 
about details concerning which, as these Gospels teach, 
you should trust God. You are not an unworried man. 
You are not a Christian. 

** Furthermore," the man of China insisted, *' I read 
in the New Testament that God is Love; that, according 
to Jesus, there are simply two great commandments that 
sum up Christianity, namely: Love to God, and love to 
one's neighbor. I read that a Christian man is a great 
man of love, one whose heart is too full of kindness and 
generous feeling to allow of any hatred, one who even 
loves his enemies. 

''But — you do not impress me as being such a man. 
Only the other day you were telling me of a certain 



IFntrobuction xiii 



person who had injured you and to whom you would 
not speak, when you met him upon the street. You 
do not love your enemies. You are not a Christian. 

"There is vStill another thing/' continued the Confu- 
cianist, ** that impressed me in this Book. We go to 
our Temples to ask our gods for help in relation to our 
daily needs, such as the health of our children, prosper- 
ity in our business, and success in our special under- 
takings. We want a God who can assist us in making 
money to provide for our families, one who can bring 
happiness, health, and good cheer to those beneath our 
roof trees. I was glad to find in this Book that your 
God promises to take care of the material needs of his 
followers. I read that if a man seeks first the Kingdom 
of God he has a right to expect other things, like pros- 
perity in his business, to follow; that God helps him to 
get on and be successful. 

"But you never told me about this. I never heard 
any one say that Christianity helps a man in his busi- 
ness. You have only told me about certain spiritual 
gifts and future rewards. We Chinese want not simply 
spiritual blessings, but we want the help of the gods in 
our everyday life. The great problem of our country 
is that of getting rice to fill the hungry mouths of our 
children. Sunrise sees the carpenter and the smith, the 
shoemaker, and the beater of cotton at their labor, and the 
midnight cry of the watchman often finds them patiently 
earning the food for the morrow's meal. You must 
bring to these people the kind of Christianity I read 
about in this Book, the Christianity that meets the 
pressing needs of everyday life. If I understand the 
meaning of your Book, you are not a Christian." 

The missionary who related to mc this incident, con- 
fessed that the practical interpretation of the message 
of the New Testament to daily life, by a man who had 



xiv IFntro&uction 



read the Gospels for the first time, not only gave him a 
decided surprise, but it also afforded him a new point 
of view. 

But it is from such practical point of view that the 
Bible must be tested and related to the needs of the 
modern man. It has a message for the man who is 
choosing a life work, for the man who is unhappy, for 
the man who is troubled about money, for the hurried, 
tired business man, who thinks he has no time to rest 
nor to relax ; it comes with most definite advice to the 
man who is friendless, or who would know how to make 
or hold true friends; to the man who is sick, or hard 
pressed by misfortune ; it teaches the laws of prayer and 
faith and education and labor, not in the abstract, but 
in the concrete, making these great forces mean some- 
thing rich and wonderful for each individual, regardless 
of that individual's work or station. The Bible tells of 
a religion that really can be made to work every day 
in the week and every hour in the day. It tells of the 
more abundant life in relation to every department of 
existence, which really means more health, more happi- 
ness, more prosperity for the individual. 

It has been the aim of these studies to deal with the 
message of the Bible in its relation to these ordinary 
problems of present-day living, without the use of theo- 
logical terms and also without involving the student in 
those controversial matters which inevitably distract the 
thought of the busy man from the essential question, 
which is, ''What particular message has the Bible for 
me?" 

The studies give especial emphasis and prominence to 
the teaching of Christ as found in the New Testaments 
since those persons who have really caught the spirit of 
this teaching have found a solution of modern pro- 
blems, both public and personal, which no merely legis- 



fntto&uction 



XV 



lative action or ethical rules have been able to 
supply. 

Shortly before the death of the late Senator J. P. 
Dolliver, I asked him what he considered to be the 
greatest present need of American life. He replied, "The 
greatest need of our people is a new dynamic which will 
touch the inner springs of religious activity; it is not 
merely ethical or political reformation which we need, 
but a revival of religion, and this revival will find its 
springs in the Gospel of Jesus. " 

The chief reason that this Gospel, this spirit and 
method of Jesus, takes hold of the human heart and 
life with power, is because it gets down below mere 
formal rules of state or creed to the ideals and the 
desires of men, where all sweeping and vital change 
must begin. The reason that the ten commandments 
and every similar code of ethics are not enough is because 
these are merely negative prohibitions that do not create 
in the human mind and heart a new disposition, a new 
temper, a new desire. It is one thing to build prisons 
that will make it impossible for a man to steal. It is 
another thing to instill in his deepest character the 
desire not to steal, and until we can get such a new dis- 
position, all the legislative high fences in Christendom 
will be papier-mache to stop dishonesty. 

The average man does the thing he wants to do, all 
professions and behefs to the contrary. Unless he really 
wants to exhibit the true spirit of Christianity as taught 
in the Gospels, he will not exhibit it — this is a fundamen- 
tal truth. To change the intention and the longing of 
the heart of the modern man is the only permanent 
salvation — the only way to bring to this world the 
Kingdom of God. One direct road to this condition is 
by the way of Bible study — by applying God's laws to 
every-day life. 



xW fntro^uction 



A FEW SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE USE OF THESE 
STUDIES 

First. — i\pproach the study of the Bible v^-ith utter 
honesty and with a desire to get its particular message 
for you. Leave your criticism and your prejudices at 
the door, if you wish to enter with profit into the House 
of the Spirit. The great problems of the soul can never 
be settled by disputations and acrid discussions. God's 
messages appeal only to an open heart, sincerely seeking 
its own light. 

Second. — Study the Bible systematically. Give it 
the kind of attention and regularity that you would give 
to any other subject from which you expect to receive 
advantage. Fifteen minutes, preferably in the morning, 
before the day's business begins, spent in the en\'ironment 
of Bible stud}' in relation to a single problem of life work 
will solve the majority of the needs of the day by giving 
the person a new grip on his will and a quiet mind secured 
by a right perspective. A habit luell grounded of daily 
Bible study in the right spirit is the most irnportayit asset 
which can possibly be achieved by a r:,n:c'' being. 

Third. — Come to these Bible studies thoughtfully and 
with practical common sense. I once heard Canon 
Wilberforce say, speaking in St. John's Chapel, West- 
minster, "The only way to discover God is by thought." 
No thought is of great value which is not balanced by 
good sense and by the best reason and judgment that the 
human mind can alTord. The Bible is filled with many 
plain statements which are too frequently wrenched from 
their settings to be converted into mystic and vague 
s\Tnbolism. We are also incHned to bring to the Bible 
preconceived notions which make it difiicult to think 
clearly regarding the matters of vital moment to us. 

Try to read the New Testament as though you were 



fntro&uctfon 



XVll 



reading it for the first time. Ask, ''What do the words 
actually say?'' not ''What have I always supposed they 
said?'' It is not necessary for one to expect that he can 
understand the Bible in its totality, certainly not at the 
start, since one must grow slowly in spiritual comprehen- 
sion as well as in intelligent acquaintance with the Book. 
Let us not say, therefore, that we understand a passage, 
if we do not. Let us not change a simple rule for daily 
conduct into an intolerable and mysterious dogma. Let 
us try to accept the words of Jesus as simply as he spoke 
them. 

Fourth. — Remember that the Bible belongs to you! 

Take the Bible for the impelling force that drives you 
out to som^e useful service. Take it for your cares, your 
worries, your sorrows. Believe it and apply it. It has 
been the panacea for a world's grief. You will find in it 
what the Psalmist found, " a refuge in the time of storm. " 
Believe unflinchingly that God is a God of love, that 
He means good, not evil for you, that He has a particular 
will for your own individual happiness. 

" In His will is our Peace. " 

Remember that God makes no distinction in His all- 
embracing care. As the mountains are round about 
Jerusalem so the love of the Father is round about His 
own. 

''Thou wilt keep him in perfect Peace, 
Whose mind is stayed on Thee." 



1 



1 



I 

Why Study the Bible ? 



Bible Study in the Work of 

Life 



WHY STUDY THE BIBLE? 

This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy 
mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon, day and night, 
that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is 
written therein; for then thou shalt make th}^ way 
prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. 

Joshua i : 8. 

Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in 
them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear 
witness of me. John 5 : 39. 

Great peace have they that love thy law. 

Psalms 119: 165. 

He that hath my commandments and keepeth them 
he it is that loveth me. John 14: 21. 

But Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, 
not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. 

Matthkw 22: 29. 
3 



3Bible Stubp 



Thy word have I laid up in my heart 
That I might not sin against thee. 

Psalms 119: 11. 

Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for 
teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
which is in righteousness; that the man of God may be 
complete, furnished completely unto every good work. 

II Timothy 3:16-17. 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet 

And light unto my path. Psalms 119: 105. 

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were 
written for our learning, that through patience and 
through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. 

Romans 15:4. 

The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; 
The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the 
simple. Psalms 19: 7. 

But these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus 
is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may 
have life in his name. John 20: 31. 

The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and 
are life. John 6:63. 

Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, 
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling 
aright the word of Truth. II Timothy 2: 15. 

Already ye are clean because of the word which I have 
spoken unto you. ... If ye abide in me, and my words 
abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done 
unto you. John 15: 3, 7. 



1[n tbe Morft of OLffe 



Everyone therefore that heareth these words of mine 
and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who 
built his house upon the rock; and the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that 
house ; and it fell not ; for it was founded upon the rock. 

Matthew 7 : 24. 



WITNESS OP MEN 

The existence of the Bible as a book for the people is 
the greatest benefit which the human race has ever ex- 
perienced. Every attempt to belittle it ... is a crime 
against humanity. And if there are to be miracles this 
book is itself the greatest miracle. For here we have a 
system of religious doctrine and beliefs that has been 
built up without the help of the Greek philosophy, by 
unlearned persons, and that has, more than any other 
exercised an influence for good upon the hearts and lives 
of men. Immanuel Kant. 

He succeeds in his undertakings just so far as he is 
able to incorporate the spirit of the Bible in his work. 

Wm. T. Stead. 

As well imagine a man with a sense for culture not 
cultivating it by the help of Greek art, and a man with a 
sense for poetry not cultivating it by the help of Homer 
and Shakespeare, as a man with a sense of conduct not 
cultivating it by the help of the Bible. 

Matthew Arnold. 

The immediate work of our day is the study of the 
Bible. Other studies will act upon the progress of 
mankind by acting through and upon this. 

Dr. Temple. 



Bible Stu&s 



'*The Bible is driving back the horizon of war, " is the 
striking phrasing of a truth expressed by the Hon. 
Charles W. Fairbanks. 

Slowly the Bible of the race is writ, 

And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone; 

Each age, each kindred, adds to it. 

Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan. 

While swings the sea, while mists the mountains shroud, 

While thund'rous sin*ges burst on cliffs of cloud, 

Still at the Prophet*s feet the nations sit. LowELU 

'* A. Lincoln, his own Book, " were words found in the 
cover of Lincoln's well-worn Bible. 

I believe that the Bible should not only be taught in 
every public school, but that it should have the first place, 
and that every other study should be made subordinate. 

Professor Wm. Lyon Phelps. 

The Honorable James Bryce in writing to the World's 
Sixth Sunday-School Convention said: '' Had I been 
able to be with you, I should have said some words 
regarding the special and urgent need which seems to 
exist in our time for maintaining in the general scheme of 
education the place of religious instruction, and especially 
the proper knowledge of the Bible. " 

The best of allies you can procure for us is the Bible. 
That will bring us the reality — Freedom. 

Garibaldi. 

I believe the Bible is inspired because it inspires me, 

Coleridge. 

The sole use of the collective inspired library, voltuni- 
nous though it may be, is to teach men two very brief 



irn tbe Morft of Xite 



rules of action, or rather principles of living — love to 
God and love to man. These are the concentrated 
golden products of a wonderful profusion of law, history, 
psalmody, prophecy, and philosophy, which make up the 
Old and the New Testament. The human mind is so 
constituted that it does not readily assimilate concen- 
trated, abstract truth; otherwise, the great collection of 
sacred writings might at once be reduced to a simple 
statement of the two all-inclusive motives before noted. 
That this fine gold of principle may be received and 
transmuted into living spiritual fiber, it must be pre- 
sented in all possible combinations and conditions, seen 
at all angles and in different lights, and tested in its 
application to varying ages, nations, and civilizations. 
Its essence must flow into the lives of the rich and poor, 
high and low ; its qualities must be exhibited in all stages 
of development from germ planting through successive 
states of growth to blossoming and full fruition; its 
energy must be brought into contact with prosperity, 
knowledge, and ignorance, nations and individuals. 
It has one message, but many interpretations ; one melody 
but endless variations. Henry Wood. 

Truth is one; 
And, in all lands beneath the sun 
Whoso hath eyes to see may see 
The tokens of its unity. . . . 
In Vedic verse, in dull Koran, 
Are messages of good to Man; 
The angels to our Aryan sires 
Talked by the earliest household fires; 
The Prophets of the elder day. 
The slant-eyed sages of Cathay, 
Read not the riddle all amiss 
Of higher life evolved from this. 



Bible Stu^p 



Nor doth it lessen what He taught, 

Or make the Gospel Jesus brought 

Less precious, that His lips retold 

Some portion of that truth of old ; 

Denying not the proven seers, 

The tested wisdom of the years ; 

Confirming with His own impress 

The common law of righteousness. 

We search the world for truth; we cull 

The good, the true, the beautiful. 

From graven stone and written scroll, 

From all old flower fields of the soul ; 

And weary seekers of the best, 

We come back laden from our quest, 

To find that all the Sages said 

Is in the Book our mothers read. 

And all our treasure of old thought 

In His harmonious fullness wrought, 

Who gathers in one sheaf complete 

The scattered blades of God's sown wheat, — 

The common growth that maketh good 

His all embracing Fatherhood. 

Whittier. 



WHY STUDY THE BIBLE .^ 

Bible study has three distinct and indispensable uses 
for the modern man or woman. 

First: Bible Study Gives the Facts Concerning 
Christianity. — Paul commended the Bereans, who, in his 
judgment, ''were more noble than those in Thessalonica, 
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, 
and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things 
were so. *' The Bible contains the best accounts extant of 
God, His nature, His character, and His dealings with men. 



Hn tbe Morft of Xffe 



A man's life usually reflects his idea of the character of 
God. He may think of Deity as primarily a God of Jus- 
tice, and the great word for him will be '' Duty " ; he may 
find God's chief message in the last chapter of the Gospel 
of Matthew, which commands to go into all the world and 
preach the Gospel to every creature, and his God will be 
one of missionary injunction; he may think of God as a 
great potentate or ruler to be appeased by offerings, 
sacrifices, and many prayers in accordance with certain 
Oriental customs of the present day, and his God will be 
one largely of fear or penalty; a man may also find his 
God in an all-embracing Pantheism, in the spaces of 
woods and sea and air he may worship, and the name of 
his God is Nature; or he may personalize his Deity, 
finding him, in the words of Tennyson, 

*' Closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet," 

and his God will be more nearly of the character in which 
Jesus seemed to think of Him in his oft-repeated term 
"Father." 

Since everyone must worship his own God, or his own 
idea of ''the power not ourselves that makes for righteous- 
ness, " it is well for the individual to ask and to answer 
clearly the question, "What kind of God am I serving?" 

The Bible gives a distinct message in regard to the 
character of the Supreme Being, and this message, inter- 
preted from the point of view of various nations and 
peoples, fitted to their education and their diverse char- 
acteristics, has made the Bible more universally the book 
of religion than any other literature extant. 

The Bible has lasted two thousand years and to-day is 
the best selling book in the world. Its issues average more 
than fifteen milHon copies yearly; more Bibles in different 
languages arc sold each year than any other hundred 
books together; this Book has been translated into four 



10 3Btble Stubp 



hundred and eighty different languages and dialects; 
it is being studied annually by more than a half-million 
young men and young women in connection with or- 
ganized Bible classes in the churches; during the college 
year 1912-13, 48,398 students of the colleges and univer- 
sities of the United States and Canada were reported as 
engaged for a part of the year at least in voluntary Bible 
study; the Sunday-schools of many lands report from 
twenty-five to twenty-eight millions of pupils studying 
the Bible each season; twenty-seven Bible societies are 
printing this Book, one in the United States, three in 
Great Britain, and twenty-three on the continent of 
Europe, aggregating a total output of Bibles year by year 
of not less than twelve million copies; the Oxford Press 
alone is reported as publishing on the average twenty 
thousand Bibles every week in the year; the total annual 
issue of the Scriptures in the year 1 910 in all languages 
and in all nations reached the impressive figure of 
nineteen million volumes. 

In view of such practical and universal interest in this 
literature, can any person, quite regardless of his belief 
or his race or his station, afford to disregard or neglect 
Bible study, and still claim to be educated or to be 
capable of a clear knowledge of the religious facts which 
have so largely shaped and are increasingly shaping the 
acts and the thoughts of the world's population? A man 
entered my office some years ago and said, "What do you 
personally know about God?" This question in sub- 
stance must be answered without equivocation and with 
some definite expression by the men and women who 
make any claim for leadership or influence in the life of 
to-day. To answer such questions one must know the 
facts about religion, because in religion as in science facts 
precede opinion. It matters little comparatively what 
I may think or what I may say concerning such deep 



flu tbe mork ot Xtfe 1 1 

matters as the meaning of life, the character of God, 
my relationship with my fellows, unless my ideas are 
firmly grounded in the fundamental facts of history and 
the best experience of the world's great men. Justice 
Charles E. Hughes once said to a man who was giving 
evidence on the witness stand, "Yoiu* opinions are 
interesting, but unfortunately they do not seem to be 
based upon any factual evidence." The Bible gives this 
factual evidence concerning God, man, and the human 
soul. It is therefore incontestably worth while to study 
the Bible. 

This revelation of God and the Bible is given largely 
through the life, the teaching, and the example of Jesus 
Christ, and it is the Gospel of Christ which makes the 
Bible and Christianity unique, differentiating it from 
Islam, Buddhism, and other faiths. The aim of Jesus 
as he stated it was to reveal to men the character of God 
by means of spirit, word, and deed, in order that no man 
could mistake the nature of the Deity. His emphasis 
was upon the spirit of Christianity rather than upon its 
letter, and as Matthew Arnold has said, the chief means 
of discovering God and Christianity is by clearly con- 
ceiving and expressing the spirit and method of Jesus. 
Thus the Bible becomes the scientific and historical, as 
well as the ever-essential fact-book of religion. 

Second: Bible Study Points the Way to Successful 
Character Making. — There are two ways by which 
Bible study affects character. In the first place it reveals 
to men their real selves in contrast to the conceptions and 
opinions of friends and acquaintances who never thor- 
oughly understand us in the depths of our hearts. There 
is something distinctl}^ personal about a sincere study of 
the Word of God. It is not merely interesting and enter- 
taining, it is also revolutionary, transforming, and recon- 
structing. No one can read the words of Jesus with 



12 Bible Sttt5i3 



regularity and reflection without being consciously or 
unconsciously changed thereby ; they are like the air of 
the mountains or like the song of birds, or the fresh pure 
winds sweeping across a clear lake ; they change both the 
environment and the direction of one^s thoughts. I am 
writing these words in the valley of Interlaken facing the 
snows of the Eiger and the Jungfrau, having come here 
directly from the hot streets of Oriental Cairo. The 
change is more than physical, it is also mental, it is 
spiritual. It is as different as the pure-hearted and 
simple peasant of Switzerland, w^orking on his green 
mountainsides, is different from the material and often 
commercially dishonest Turco-Egyptian, sitting in his 
hot cafe, talking money and politics. The Bible gives us 
the air in which the individual soul can breathe and grow. 
For a moment at least it sweeps the vision of men to 
the hills from whence cometh their help, it gives quiet 
and composure in the air where right thoughts and 
right decisions can be made, it brings us to God, by 
bringing us to ourselves. 

A second advantage in character building secured 
from Bible study is that of actively and decisively facing 
our temptations and our obstacles. Bible study brings us 
to the soul's battle-ground. The chief hope of personal 
religion lies, in the beginning, in the honest willingness to 
face one's self and one's own conscience in the loneliness 
of individual personahty. The Bible is a militant book, 
it is a book of warfare, and not simply a sermon on the 
mount. **I came not to bring peace," said Jesus, ^'but 
a sword, " and he died on the Cross. Every individual 
has his own fight for character; it is his own pecuUar 
fight with his own pecuHar enemies and weaknesses ; it is 
usually a lonely battle ; like the Master a man enters his 
Gethsemane alone. 

Bible study not only shows the battle-field, but serves 



irn tbe Morfi of Xite 13 

as guide and helper concerning the rules of the combat, 
and the way to victory. A strong athlete in one of the 
colleges came to me one day and said, ''For three months 
I have been putting up the biggest fight of my life. It is 
bigger than any battle I have attempted to fight upon 
the football field. It is my fight for manhood and for 
purity and," he added with a determined and encourag- 
ing smile, ''slowly and surely I am getting the victory." 
I asked him the rules of his game. He said, "I have 
spent one hour each morning for three months in Bible 
study, and the thoughtful realization of the things I was 
up against and the things which are most vitally worth 
while for me." In this particular instance I knew that 
it meant for the young man a fight and a sacrifice similar 
to that represented by Jesus in the figure of plucking 
out the right eye or cutting off the right hand, in order 
that the man might enter into the life that was intended 
for him. It was worth the struggle, however, for the 
prize was that of self-control, the prize of character. 

Fifteen minutes daily in the environment of this great 
literature will calm, strengthen, and brace moral and 
spiritual will power in a degree beyond any words to 
express. I consider a daily habit of Bible study the 
most important human agency in existence to secure 
strong character, and character is the chief element in 
all abiding success. 

Third: Bible Study Creates Ambition. — The Bible 
is the book of human biography — the biography of men 
who failed and succeeded, who sinned and were forgiven, 
who fell amid all the human frailties known to our own 
flesh and who rose triumphantly above them through 
the power of Almighty God. Here is the book that 
tells us of men who, like Moses, deliberately turned 
their backs upon the pleasures of sin for a season in 
order that they might gain more valuable satisfactions; 



14 Bible Stu&B 



in the case of Moses that he might immortalize his name 
by leading his people forty years across desert sands to 
their promised land. Moses himself did not enter the 
promised land, but he saw it from Mount Nebo and he 
died in song. 

The Bible tells us of men like Paul, the first and the 
greatest missionary hero, who died in chains, but whose 
spirit rose above his imprisonment as the Matterhorn 
rises above its perilous slopes, having achieved his am- 
bition as he cried, "I have fought a good fight — I have 
kept the faith/* The influence of the Bible creates 
the kind of ambition that the young artist possessed who 
in the midst of his failure did not fail, because, as he 
looked upon the masterpiece of the great artist with 
whom he was studying, he felt something stirring within 
him which made him cry out exultingly, ''I, too, am a 
painter." 

A further stir to this indomitable ambition created 
by Bible study, lies in the fact that we are shown in the 
pages of Scripture that God's purpose never fails, that 
God's- men are never really defeated, and that the King- 
dom of Heaven is never overthrown. It keeps alive 
the consciousness that the man who follows right laws 
cannot fail because it reminds him that God is on the 
side of the man who is right and who does right. 

It revives old, dead ambitions. It makes a man believe 
again in his old ideals,, the ideals that have been hidden 
and crushed down in his contact with the world and his 
reverses. It shows him God's all-powerful hand and the 
love unchanging which has always been about him, 
could he but realize it; he dares again with the daring 
of youth because he realizes that *'if God be for him, 
who can be against him ?" 



Hn tbe morft of Xife 15 

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

Have you ever read the Book of Job at a sitting, the 
book that Victor Hugo called, '*The greatest piece of 
literature ever written with a pen '7 

Did the Sunday-school we attended give us a real 
knowledge of God through Bible study? Is it doing it 
to-day? What can we do to bring about such desirable 
results? 

"I don't remember anything he said, but I re- 
member him,'' was the remark made to me by a col- 
lege student concerning his Bible teacher. What do you 
think should be the chief aim of a Bible class teacher? 
What should be his best method of achieving that aim? 

II Timothy 2 ; 15. 

Luther said that some days he was so busy and so 
much worried that he thought it necessary to spend at 
least two hours in prayer. In these busy days is it 
feasible to try to get men and women to form habits 
of daily Bible study? Is it lost time? State reasons 
upon both sides. Consider the example of Jesus in this 
regard. Are Bible study and prayer naturally con- 
nected? If so, why? 

What kind of Bible study has been of greatest ad- 
vantage to you personally? 

The following books have helped many persons to 
discover the Bible: Bushnell's The Character of Jesus; 
Harnack's What is Christianity ?; the lives of Drummond 
by George Adam Smith and Lockhart; Fairbairn*s Life 
of Christ; Peabody*s Jesus Christ and the Social Question; 
The Teaching of Jesus and his Apostles, by Bosworth. 
What books have been most helpful to you? In either 
the spirit of interpreting the Bible or in the method of 
its study? 



i6 Bible Stu5^ in tbe Morft of Xife 

The point of view of approaching the Bible is 
quite as important as any method of its study. What 
should determine that point of view? What value do 
you place upon the historical method of modern Biblical 
study, in the light of the discoveries of scientific archae- 
ology^ and upon books like that of Professor Rauschen- 
buch's Christianity and the Social Crisis leading to the 
application of the Bible to social questions? 

In Mohammedan lands much of the time of certain 
missionaries is given to controversy and argumentation 
with Moslems regarding the Bible and the Koran. 
What do you think of the value or the advantage or 
disadvantage of argument over creeds or theological 
problems in the Bible class? 

It is sometimes said that it is impossible to read 
the Bible using the intellect alone, as one would read 
Aristotle or Kant; students in school often remark that 
Bible study in the curriculum where the Scripture is 
studied solely intellectually, differs from Bible study in 
an informal and voluntary Bible group. What in your 
opimon is the reason for this? 

Job 5: 8-27; Deut. 30: 8-20; Col. 2: 2-3; II Peter 
1 : 2-3 ; Romans 10 : 1-18 ; Proverbs 2 and 3 ; Psalm 
119; John 15. 



II 

What Is Christianity ? 



If 



II 

WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY? 

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is 
the first and great commandment, and a second like unto 
it is this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On 
these two commandments the whole law hangeth and the 
Prophets. Matthew 22 : 37-40. 

But when he came to himself he said. How many hired 
servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare 
and I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my 
father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against Heaven and in thy sight; I am no more worthy 
to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired ser- 
vants. And he arose and came to his father. But while 
he was yet afar off his father saw him and was moved with 
compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 
And the son said unto him. Father, I have sinned against 
Heaven and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be 
called thy son. But the father said to his servants, 
Bring forth quickly the best robe and put it on him; and 
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring 
the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and make merry ; 
for this my son was dead and is alive again ; he was lost 
and is found. And they began to be merry. 

Luke 15: 17-24. 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. 

I John 4: 7. 
19 



20 3Bible Stu&^ 



God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in 
God, and God abideth in him. 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out 
fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth 
is not made perfect in love. 

If a man say I love God, and hateth his brother, he is 
a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen cannot love God whom he hath not seen. 

I John 4: 16, 18, 20. 

But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the 
greatest of these is love. I Cor. 13 : 13. 

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father 
is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction 
and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. 

James i : 27. 

All the paths of Jehovah are loving- kindness and truth 
Unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 

Psalms 25 : 10. 

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what 
doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly and to love 
kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God? 

MiCAH 6: 8. 

To them that hath no might he increaseth strength. 

Is. 40: 29. 

WITNESS OF MEN 

Christianity — the greatest and happiest stroke ever 
yet made for human perfection. 

M. Arnold. 

To love God and make oneself loved by Him, to love 



irn tbe Morft of %ifc 21 

one's neighbors and to make oneself loved by them, — 
this is morality and religion; in both the one and the 
other, love is everything — end, beginning, and middle. 

JOUBERT. 

For the love of God is broader than the measure of 

man's mind 
And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. 

F. W. Faber. 

Religion is the love of God, not the fear of the devil. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

But to love is the great amulet which makes the world 
a garden. 

Robert Louis Stevenson. 

I could conceive the existence of an established Church 
which should be a blessing to the community. A church 
in which, week by week, services should be devoted, not 
to the iteration of abstract propositions and theology, but 
for the setting before men's minds of an ideal of true, just, 
and pure living; a place in which those who are weary 
of the burden of daily cares should find a moment's rest 
in the contemplation of the higher life which is possible 
for all though attained by so few; a place in which the 
man of strife and of business vshould have to think how 
small after all are the awards he covets compared with 
Peace and Charity. Depend upon it, if such a Church 
existed, no one would seek to disestablish it. 

Huxley. 

Most religions are meant to be straight lines connecting 
two points — God and man; but Christianity has three 
points — God, man, and his brother, with two lines to 
make a right angle. 

Maltbie D. Babcock. 



22 Bible Stubi? 



To love is to understand everything. 

Old French Proverb. 

Above all things do not touch Christianity unless you 
are willing to seek the Kingdom of Heaven first. I 
promise you a miserable existence if you seek it second. 

Henry Drummond. 



WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY ? 

A man's religion is his conception of God. Find out 
what a nation worships and you will discover the nation's 
faith. 

You will find in Asia people who worship their deities 
with an idea of appeasing them or for the purpose of 
warding off misfortune from their homes. Their religion 
is one of fear. In Europe as in America you will find 
people who worship in beautiful churches by the use of 
beautiful forms, forms that appeal to the aesthetic and to 
the emotional and to the sense of the customary. Their 
religion is one of ritual. 

Christ in the religion which he taught replaced fear by 
love, he replaced the religion of the letter with the reli- 
gion of the Spirit. He laid his emphatic work upon the 
positive rather than the negative side of religion. His 
teachings were constant affirmations with very few nega- 
tions. The possibilities rather than the misfortunes of 
human beings were made foremost, and the ''Thou shalt 
not'* of the Old Testament was changed into the ''Thou 
shalt" of the New. 

Christ stood for a religion of doing something, not of 
merely refraining from evil. That men should act lov- 
ingly, kindly, and righteously is more important than 
that they should not do wrong. To be sure he affirms 



Hn tbe Morft of Xffe 23 

the ten commandments and says, '' Not one jot nor tittle 
of the law shall pass/' but we catch the trend of 
his spiritual message, we see his real Messiahship and 
Saviorhood, as well as our own joyous incentive and 
redemption, when he says, '' Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself," or ''As my Father hath loved me, so have I 
loved you, '' or again as he stirs the human heart by the 
clarion call, ''Go work to-day,'* "My Father worketh 
hitherto and I work. '' That " Go and do thou likewise '' 
Injunction at the end of the parable of the good Samari- 
tan is worth man}'' books of advice concerning the theory 
of creeds and laws. These are things that we can do, and 
the hearts of men are filled with confidence in the pres- 
ence of achievement. We are never so sure of the things 
we are commanded not to do. 

Jesus always talks more about faith than he does about 
fear, and faith is positive — it springs from love and it leads 
to love. When manifested toward God it reveals the inher- 
ent desire to do right, to be right, in order to please a con- 
siderate and loving Father, not because we are afraid of 
him. That inner desire, that "fixed design of righteous- 
ness, ''is the seed corn of Christ's Gospel, the password into 
his fellowship, the sign of membership in the Kingdom of 
Heaven. Christianity is a renewed possibility every day 
of making a clean record with the past blotted out through 
the forgiveness of a Divine Father's love, a Father whose 
heart is touched with the feeling for human infirmi- 
ties and who really cares deeply, far more deeply 
than we know, for our success. This is a religion of 
reciprocal loving-kindness. It makes men love others 
because of the increasing consciousness that God loves 
them. Robert Louis Stevenson said, "If you are sure 
that God in the long run means kindness to you, you 
should bchappy; andif happy, surely you should be kind." 

The more one studies the trend and the spirit of Jesus* 



24 3Blble Stu&s 



teaching the more one is convinced that to him love was 
the irresistible proof and power of religion. According 
to the New Testament it is the central characteristic of 
God. *'God is Love.'' The divine force in the Chris- 
tian religion resides in that love that never limits or 
holds back gifts that are right for the children of men; 
it does not judge harshly or wait for the crowd 
before it is ready with its sympathy ; it is the love that 
never faileth, that suffers long and is kind, that envieth 
not and vaunts not itself, the love that is not proud and 
that does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not its own, 
is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; a love that 
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness but rejoiceth in the 
truth ; that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth 
all things, and endureth all things. ''.By this,'' says 
Jesus, ''shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye have love one to another." 

Christianity meant to Christ the love of God the Father 
for all His children. But this love was to be reflected 
and expressed through the hearts and the acts of man. 
We learn to believe and understand something of the 
love of God by seeing its reflection in our earthly father's 
attitude toward his children. If he is a true father he is 
willing to overlook any fault, however heinous, in his 
child, providing the child is sorry and comes back as the 
prodigal came back to his father's home. God's love 
is an earthly father's love carried to infinity. Conceive 
of the love of God by trying to think on infinitely 
beyond the capacity of earthly affection, and realizing 
that this is what Jesus meant for himself and for us when 
so often he said, "Father." 

"Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask 
him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for 
a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 



irn tbe Morft of Xife 25 

more shall your Father who is in Heaven give good things 
unto them that ask him?'* 

The Master's attitude towards loveless acts and love- 
less men demonstrated clearly that he considered the 
chief crime of life to be the crime against love. The 
fiercest denunciations and the most wrathful woes that 
were ever hurled from the lips of the Son of Man were 
flung against those ceremonialists of the Sanhedrin, who 
had killed love by their literalism, monopolized religion, 
standardized it, stereotyped it, and juggled with it in 
sleazy religious casuistry, and because of their acquaint- 
ance with the veneer of religion considered themselves 
better than other men. Against all such Pharisaism 
which, either in the first or in the twentieth century, 
seems to fear that too many people will be saved, or 
takes as its motto the calvinistic phrase, ^*I am saved, 
I must watch the theology of my minister, everyone out- 
side is damned,'* — against all this professional religious 
make-believe, Jesus offered the simple and conclusive 
evidence of a loving, serviceable, sacrificing life for others, 
saying to all usurpers of religion, "I am among you as 
one who serves.'* 

Our times are peculiarly susceptible to this type of 
Christianity. It is a period demanding reality, even 
though it is a time of uncertainty and unrest relative to 
the expression of religion. Yet as one looks about him 
upon the real Christian works of this present civilization, 
as they are expressed in solicitude for the unfortunate, 
in the healing of the sick, and in the caring for the in- 
competent, one would not exchange this new order for 
the theological guiding stars of the time of Jonathan 
Edwards. It is a time when real religion is being brought 
out of the cloister into the market-place and tried. Its 
expression and its profession are different than those 
which our fathers knew, but is it not Christ-like, all this 



26 Bible Stu&s 



noble philanthropy — this vigorous reaction against sham 
methods and sham men in religion, in politics, in national 
relations? Did Christ ever teach that religion was to be 
expressed in any mere verbal form or in any particular 
organization? Did he not say that God is a Spirit, and 
that spiritual realities are superior to the changing ways 
of men? 

After all is it not the people who are guided by loving- 
kindness and by great-heartedness who are the true 
religionists of all time, regardless of the name and sign 
under which they live and labor? Think of the men 
whom the world delights to honor, think of the 
people who are most tenderly remembered by yourself 
and by your friends. Are they those who have made 
it the greatest merit that they are Christians of "good 
form,'' are they those who have scolded us and judged 
us harshly and rebuked us, or are they the ones who, like 
their Divine Master, have forgotten our weaknesses 
and mistakes, covering all of our deficiencies with a man- 
tle of large-hearted forbearance and affection, saying as 
Jesus said to the woman whom the professional reli- 
gionists would stone, ''Neither do I condemn thee,'' and 
thereby heartening us to go through our defeats to cer- 
tain victory? 

The Gospels would seem to stake the whole cause of 
Christianity upon as simple a proposition as this, to love 
men in charitable deeds and service is to truly live 
religiously. Christ seemed ready to forgive anything 
for the sake of love. As long as he discovered true sorrow 
or repentance for sin he was ready to extend his hands of 
help. He was the matchless lover of men ; ' 'seventy times 
seven times" was his answer to Peter who asked how often 
should we forgive those who sin against us. Jesus never 
seemed to despair of any individual, no matter how low 
he may have fallen. He lifted men by believing in 



Hn tbe Morft of Xife 27 

them; his attitude as defined by himself was that of 
"friend"; he tried to establish between men and God 
a filial relationship. 

** Behold Him now when He comes! 

Not the Christ of our subtle creeds, 
But the Lord of our hearts, of our homes, 

Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs; 
The brother of want and blame, 

The lover of women and men, 
With a love that puts to shame 

All passions of mortal ken." 

But the practical question arises, how can I get such 
assurances of God's love? How can I obtain the con- 
sciousness of his co-operation in my daily life? How can 
I be a Christian? 

First. — There is the process of turning away from the 
thing that is "sin'* to me, abandoning the wrong 
attitude and following a new and better desire. This is 
spoken of in the New Testament as "repentance'' or as 
being "bom from above." It is a new beginning in the 
spirit of obedience to the wishes of God. It is the prodi- 
gal coming to himself in the far country and starting out 
to go to his father's house. It is a state of mind and 
heart in which a man will forsake his sin and begin to 
want God and to listen to His "good tidings." It is 
both a change of feeling and a change of will, a new state 
of mind and a new action to match it. Its basis is a 
recognition that we are wrong, that God is a lo\nng Father 
and wants to help us get right. It is both a desire and a 
petition. It is also an action. In fact, the chief part 
of it is action, and a drastic one. The requirement is 
usually the giving up of the thing or things which Paul 
speaks of as the "besetting sin," and this is always 



28 JSible Stu5p 



difficult enough to require something of a revolution in 
character. To the rich young man Jesus said that the 
condition of entering the Kingdom of God was selling all 
that he had and giving to the poor, and ''come, 
foUow me/' This was doubtless an exceptional re- 
quirement, but the principle is a correct one and it is 
inherent in any change which a man makes toward God. 
Whatever stands between you and your highest personal 
attainment, precious to you, to use Christ's figure, as 
your right hand, your right eye, or father, mother, 
children, or wife; if this stands between you and your 
God it must go. This does not suggest any lack of ten- 
derness or regard for you on God's part ; it is simply in 
line -v^dth every law that is knov^m, the law that says, 
*'Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Jesus 
emphasized the fact "if any man is linUiyig to do my 
v;ill, he shall know." Henry Drummond has well ex- 
pressed this first stage of knowing the love of God. 

"A heart not quite subdued to God is an imperfect 
element in which His will can never Hve ; and the intellect 
which belongs to such a heart is an imperfect instrument 
and carmot find God's will unerringly, for God's wiU is* 
found in regions which obedience only can explore." 

And furthermore, the moment this wilHngness is 
followed by the act, a new relationship to God is dis- 
covered, and one finds that, as Jesus said, ''My yoke is 
easy and my burden is light." When the lost son 
turned his back upon his disobedience and the husks of 
the far-away coimtry, the father's home and welcome 
became far more attractive to him than the things he 
abandoned. When we repent our besetting sin loses its 
charm, and we wonder at its former hold upon us. 

Second. — The next step is also important, the apply- 
ing of this newly-found v.ill of God to our indi\'idual 
careers. Christianity is not a cloud-like affair floating 



irn tbe Morft ot Xife 29 

away in some unattached emotion ; it is a vital principle 
with direct relation to our personal careers. The prodi- 
gal had something more to do than to return home and be 
received by his father. He needed to incorporate this 
new desire step by step in his forthcoming new environ- 
ment. Now that I am willing to give up the thing that 
was keeping me back, what is God's particular message 
in my particular place in life? What is the private part 
of God's will which has to do with my individual vocation 
and is different from His will for any other individual? 
It is the question, '' Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? " 

For example, I am a business man and I want to suc- 
ceed as a business man. I must succeed, success is right 
for me, but how? Can I take God with me to-day in 
everything I do and think? Is my attitude towards my 
nearest friends in the home pleasing to Him? Then in 
my office, am I in my inmost heart doing right? Would 
Christ make the decisions concerning my employees or 
concerning my fellow- workers that I am making to-day? 
Can I take him into my pleasures, into my secret ambi- 
tions? Has religion actually changed me? Have I 
placed in the room of my surrendered weakness some 
larger and finer aim? 

Not that we are always to expect easy victories, not 
that we are to anticipate becoming angels of light in 
our relationships to our home or our business. The 
course of a human life like that of a saiHng ship, is a 
zigzag, with many tacks, but in the main a progress 
toward the home port, which is God. Repentance is not 
an act to be experienced once and for all. It is to be 
repeated again and again, as long and as often as there is 
discovered evil to be renounced. The Kingdom of 
God is always at hand to the soul who is always ready to 
confess his sin and to abandon it. 

Third. — If you are willing to assume this attitude 



30 JBible Stu&i5 



of mind and act upon it, then it is your business to be- 
lieve in God and go ahead without a shadow of fear. 
Then comes God's part, which in a sense is primary, 
though it seems secondary. Human effort is not enough, 
although it is indispensable. Remember that the saving 
of men from sin and the helping of them in their work to 
their largest success is the dearest desire of God's heart. 
God the Father's fundamental characteristic is that of 
love and the Saviourhood of his children, whom He 
delights to help. Remember that it is His joy to do men 
good, that He is watching for us to come home, as in the 
wonderful parable of the Prodigal Son that reveals vividly 
the heart and core of Christianity. *'Let the wicked 
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 
and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy 
upon him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 
By actively accepting God's love you have placed the 
little water-wheel of your life-work in the divine current 
that flows by your door, and you have harnessed thereby 
the forces of Heaven to help you in running your career. 
You have wired your house to the great dynamo and you 
are bound to get the Light. You have begun to live in 
the eternal order and the eternal order never dies, nor 
does it change nor is it frustrated. You simply cannot 
fail, for God is working with you; you are working with 
His power as well as with your own, and you have 
behind you limitless reserves. You may have breaks 
and failures with your machinery at times; you will 
require frequent readjustment of your plans with those 
of God, but you are attached to Him with the in- 
evitable union of harmonious ideals and wishes. Your 
cause is now God's cause. Everything will work to- 
gether for good, everything must so work. Obstacles 
will be things, as Napoleon said, to be overcome, and you 
will never say die, because the God of power, of love, and 



1[n tbe Morh of Xife 31 

of forgiveness is your God forever and ever. The very- 
adventure and uncertainty of the future will draw you 
to Him in greater daily trust and dependence. You have 
found what Christianity really is ; you have taken refuge 
with your life and your work in the friendly circle of 
the divine co-operation. You know what the Psalmist 
meant when he said, 

** For this God is our God forever and ever; 
He will be our guide even unto death." 

This is Christianity. 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

What is your religion? What concrete benefits do you 
derive from it? What should a man's religion do for 
him? 

Psalm 46:1-3; Psalm 27; Romans 8:28; II Cor. 
1:4; Phil. 4:13; I Peter 5:7; Phil. 4:19; Matt. 
11:2-6. 

How can a man discover the love of God for himself? 
I John 4:7-8. Read Luke 15. 

Henry Drummond spoke of "that little word, sin," as 
a term which had wandered out of theology into every- 
day life and become the most real thing we know. How 
would you define sin? In what way does your religion 
assist you in relation to sin? 

Contrast the almost universal and simple manner in 
which Jesus spoke of God and to God, using the strong, 
homely word ''Father," with the strained, servile, and 
ceremonial expressions that we frequently use in our 
formal prayers in addressing God. 

Contrast also witli the Mohammedan's ninety-nine 



32 Bfble Stu5s in tbe Morft of Xite 

names which he has given to Allah, as if a far-away 
potentate needed such specious adulation. 

Matthew 11:25; John 11:41; Luke 23 : 34-46 ; 
Matthew 26:39-42; Matthew 6:9. 

A young man coming out of a large city church was 
overheard to say to his companion, ''What was it all 
about?'' 

Could you in a few words explain clearly to a man who 
had never heard of it, just what Christianity is? Try to 
formulate in your own mind a definition of Christianity, 
what it has meant to you as an individual, what it means 
to you to-day, what you would like to have it mean if 
you were not a Christian. 

If God is love, why does He allow worry and disaster? 

James 1:2-4. 

What are the most feasible and practical ways for the 
making real of Jesus' conception of Christianity in 
modern life? 

Read I Cor. 13; I John 4; Isaiah 55. 

Why does the Catholic Church maintain such a firm 
hold upon the working people? 

Throughout the churches and cathedrals of Europe 
one looks in vain for evidence of class distinction. No 
hired pews — no discriminating ushers — all, rich and poor 
alike, have equal access to the altars and to the confes- 
sional, the prince and the pauper kneeling side by side. 
Would you say that this democracy was one of the chief 
sources of strength of the Catholic Church — because it is 
according to God's laws? 

James 2:2-5; Romans 10: 12-14; Romans 2:11. 



Ill 

Choosing and Conducting a Life Work 



33 



Ill 

CHOOSING AND CONDUCTING A LIFE-WORK 

But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness; 
and all these things shall be added unto you. 

Matthew 6:33. 

Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah saying, 
Behold I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh; is there 
anything too hard for me? 

Jer. 32:26-27. 

And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me 
alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. 

John 8:29. 

For to one is given through the Spirit the word of 
wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according 
to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; 
and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to 
another working of miracles ; and to another prophecy ; 
and to another discernings of spirits; to another divers 
kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of 
tongues; but all these worketh the one and the same 
Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will. 

I Cor. 12:8-11. 

And for their sakes I sanctify myself. 

John 17:19- 
With God all things arc possible. 

Matt. 19:26. 

35 



36 Bible Stu&i? 



WITNESS OF MEN 

I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. 
The greater part of all the mischief in the world arises 
from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand 
their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower 
and spend no more labor on the foundation than would 
be necessary to erect a hut. 

Goethe. 

I will not dishonor my sacred shield ; I will not abandon 
mv fellow-soldiers in the ranks. I will do battle for our 
altars and our homes, whether aided or unaided; I will 
leave our country not less but greater and nobler than 
she is now entrusted to me. 

The Old Athenian Oath. 

The bigger the work, the greater the joy in doing it. 
That whole-hearted striving and wrestling with difficul- 
ties, the laying hold with firm grip and level head in 
calm resolution of the monster and tugging and toiling 
and wrestling at it, to-day, to-morrow, and the next day, 
until it is done — it is the soldier's creed of forward, ever 
forward; it is the man's creed that for this task he has 
been born. 

Stanley. 

No undertaking has ever succeeded greatly that has 
had a merely sensual or selfish aim. 

Emerson. 

Benjamin Disraeli was hissed down at his first speech 
in the House of Commons. As he took his seat he was 
heard to say, ''You will not hear me now, but there will 
come a time when you will hear me. '* 

The only conclusive evidence of a man's sincerity is 



Hn tbe Morft ot Xlfe 37 

that he gives himself for a principle. Words, money and 
time may be given away, but when a man gives himself, 
it is certain that the principle has taken possession of him. 

James Russell Lowell. 

Our doubts are traitors, 
And make us lose the good we oft might win, 
By fearing to attempt. 

Shakespeare. 



CHOOSING AND CONDUCTING A LIFE-RULE 

The high distinction of the earthly career of Jesus lay 
in his unshakable conviction and certainty concerning 
his life-work. This matchless sense of mission and mes- 
sage was never absent from his thought and impressed 
all who knew him. He lost no time nor progress in 
saying "I hope"— "I think"— "I wish I knew"— he 
always said by word and by deed "I know." "I have 
a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened 
till it be accomplished! " 

The enormity of his task, which involved a revolution 
in both the spirit and method of religion of his time, the 
replacing of Hteralism with love, begot within him an 
unprecedented audacity; it saved him from Indolence 
and pettiness; it also eliminated all fear, doubt, timidity, 
and half measures, the arch foes of success. His vision 
was the proof of his power to attain it because he relied 
upon superhuman co-operation. His task was big 
enough and hard enougn to test his faith in Omnipotence. 
No one could accomplish such things alone; it required 
God. With such an aim Jesus threw himself with ut- 
ter abandonment upon the unbreakable promises of his 
Father, who was with him. 



38 Bible Stut)^ 



Every man has a choice between a mediocre and a 
superior career, between an easy and a hard road in 
his particular vocation. For a man who trusts merely 
in himself, the mediocre and the easy way may be 
safest. The man whose life is laid daringly along the 
will of God has no business with any effort which is 
not capable of supreme results. Such a man will not 
secure his goal at once or without many seeming defeats, 
but he will never lose his vision; he will realize that God 
has time to accomplish through His men His work. He 
will never become satisfied with the ordinary, he will be, 
in his particular environment, a man to be watched be- 
cause of his irresistible ambition to make the most of his 
Kfe. 

There are three essential advantages in selecting and 
conducting one's life-work in co-operation with the will of 
God. 

First. — A large undertaking impresses the community 
in which a man lives and works by its very audacity and 
proportion. This is important because no influence can 
be far reaching which is not sufficiently vital to startle 
into attention the people who are or should be concerned. 
Prom one end of Palestine to the other the population 
was stirred with this new Gospel attended by the healing 
of the sick, by natural friendships on the part of the 
teacher with humble folk, so different from their idea of 
Rabbinic religion, and by the new spiritual interpretation 
placed upon many of the formal ritualistic ceremonies 
of the Sanhedrin. 

A certain business man said that he failed because his 
business was not upon a large enough scale to succeed; 
it involved only the expenditure of half a million 
dollars. If he had obtained a vision ten times as great 
he could have attracted the attention of the great fin- 
anciers of the country. 



irn tbc Mork of Xtfe 39 

A bank president refused a loan to a young business man, 
not because the young man did not have a good business, 
but because he did not possess the outreaching audacity 
to make the business what it should be, by asking for a 
very much larger loan. It was the spirit, the courage, 
and the faith of the man to which the bank president 
looked, rather than to the security of the present business. 

A few years ago some students from a prominent 
university attended a large conference of college men 
at which they learned of the remarkable campaigns for 
Bible study in American institutions, and caught the 
vision of hundreds of their own fellow-students studying 
the Bible. Quietly but determinedly they came together 
and decided to return to their institution to reach five 
hundred students for Bible study during the succeeding 
college year. It seemed an impossible ideal, since only 
a handful of students had been studying heretofore and 
that in a somewhat half-hearted way ; the movement had 
not been popular. This large endeavor, together with 
the plans made to reach the attention of every collegian, 
not only drew closely together the little band of workers, 
but attracted the notice of the whole University and a 
large committee of students began vigorously canvassing 
the student body. Men came around ''to see the thing 
fail,*' as they said. 

The little band of students at the heart of the campaign, 
Hke the disciples of the Master, were lifted out of the 
mediocre by their strenuous task. They were simply 
obliged to work as well as to pray, for the undertaking 
was far beyond their capabiHties. In two years eleven 
hundred men were enrolled in the student Bible classes, 
and the man who was the leader of the work was led to 
devote his life to Bible study leadership in another nation. 
Success lay in a largc-visioncd attempt. It is easier to 
do a big thing than a sm.ill tiling. 



40 Bible Stu&i? 



Second. — A large plan saves the individual from falling 
by the very burden of responsibility which it places 
upon him ; it saves him from littleness by its call upon his 
largest resources. Paul expressed the fear that always 
lurks about an impassioned, strong man, lest having 
preached to others he might himself be rejected. The 
man who thinks he standeth, as James said, must con- 
stantly take heed lest he fall, and one of the most certain 
methods of security is the acceptance of high and taxing 
obligations. One of the busiest physicians whom I know 
said that his mind was so utterly occupied during every 
waking moment at his work, that certain temptations 
which formerly gave him much trouble, had no place in 
his thought. 

It was in the winter time when three men were seen to 
drive up to a residence with a load of trunks. One of 
the men upon the sleigh was exceedingly stout. Some 
spectators were amused to see him try to walk across a 
slippery sidewalk which led to the entrance of the house 
to examine the number. After twice falling down he 
finally reached the sleigh again, when to the consterna- 
tion of the onlookers, the largest trunk was placed upon 
this stout man's back and he was sent quite alone to 
ascend this icy sidewalk. It was decided beforehand, by 
those who watched him, that he would slip and the trunk 
would overpower him; but not so, he walked up the icy 
incline, climbed the slippery steps, and passed into the 
house without slipping once. Why? He had something 
big enough on him to hold him down. 

No man, whatever his calling, has a right to play with 
a life-work that is not filled with elements big enough to 
keep him steady upon his feet. The most obscure 
vocation may be magnified and dignified into a mission. 
The famous hammer maker of Scotland said, ''My 
calling is an obscure one, it is only making hammers, 



IFn tbe Morft of Xife 41 

but I am determined that everyone in Scotland shall 
learn to come to me for hammers because mine are the 
best which can be made. '* 

Third. — Furthermore, a life-work of large and im- 
portant scale tests God. Many a man has never known 
what it means really to believe in God, simply because his 
dilemma has never been sufficiently great to drive him to 
Omnipotent sources. He has not been engaged in a task 
which was mighty enough to require divine help. 

Phillips Brooks once said, ''Pray for power to fit your 
tasks, not for tasks to fit your power.'' We cannot 
expect the Almighty to lavish powers and abilities upon 
us if we do not have in mind definite and profitable ways 
to utilize them. 

Do you think that God ever helps men to do things 
that they have not first conceived in ambitious brains? 

God is looking for men in the everyday walks of life 
to carry out His purposes. When He finds such men, full 
of ambitious daring and willingness to trust, because 
they are conscious that their undertakings are in line 
with the divine will, all of the forces and laws of Heaven 
are made to serve them. 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

When is a man defeated? 

Romans 8:35-39; I Cor. 10: 13. 
What were the underlying principles in Jesus' career? 
Is it possible and sensible to adopt in modern business 
life such principles as the Golden Rule, the Sermon on 
the Mount, and Jesus' teaching regarding the non-resis- 
tance of evil? 

Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 5:1-16; Matthew 5:38-48; 
Matthew 18:21-22. 



42 SSible Stubp 



Christ said to his disciples, "Greater works than these 
shall ye do ; because I go unto the Father. '' Exactly what 
does this mean in my own life-work? Does it give me the 
right to believe in limitless possibilities in my vocation? 
If so under what conditions? 

Is a great life-work necessarily great in the public eye? 
Luke 22:24-30; Luke 16:10-12. 

What do the Scriptures teach regarding the influence 
of obstacles as a factor in success? 

Lockhart in his life of Scott shows how the author's 
life was divided into two parts. The first part was one 
of prosperity: a Scottish seigneur, a well-filled table, 
prominent persons all about him, a place and position 
in an ambitious, material world — this section of his life 
was interesting, but, he confesses, commonplace. Then a 
crash and disaster came; sorrow and loss turned the 
current of his life. We behold for the first timxc an 
enlarging, an indomitable soul in the making, settling 
down with splendid courage to an almost intolerable 
task, writing off his load of debt, bearing his bereavement 
with an august courage,, amidst poor health and every 
kind of obstacle, taking his pen when he might under 
normal conditions have laid it down, and fighting with it 
an heroic battle for victory and for honor. 

A. C. Benson referring to this tragic circumstance 
speaks of it as something sent by God, "to give a great 
man the opportunity to live in a way that could furnish 
an eternal and imperishable example. '' 

Psalm 23; James 1:12; Matthew 5:10-11. 

What are the determining principles upon which a man 
should choose his life-work ? Advice of friends ? Natural 
inclination? Environment? Opportunity for service? 
Wealth? Ambition? 

Proverbs 4:14-18; Matthew 16:21-28. 

Emerson said, '' Do your thing and I shall know you. *' 



IFn tbe Morft of Xite 43 

Do you believe that every individual has a particular 
mission and work quite distinct from every other human 
being? What is the influence of such conviction upon 
feelings of envy towards other successful men? 

What is the secret of keeping up courage, no matter 
what happens? 

Deut. 31:6-8; Romans 8:31; John 5: 17; I Cor. 10:13. 

Read ninety-first Psalm. 



IV 

The Place and Use of Money 



45 



IV 

THE PLACE AND USE OF MONEY 

What IS a man profited if he gain the whole world 
and lose or forfeit his own self? Luke 9: 25. 

Give me neither poverty nor riches; 

Feed me with the food that is needful for me: 

Lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is Jehovah? 

Or lest I be poor and steal, 

And use profanely the name of my God. 

Proverbs 30:8-9. 

But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is 
he that giveth thee power to get wealth. 

Deut. 8:18. 

And Jesus looked round about and saith unto his dis- 
ciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into 
the Kingdom of God. Mark 10:23. 

As the partridge that sitteth on eggs which she hath 
not laid, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right; 
in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his 
end he shall be a fool. Jer. 17: 11. 

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, 
and have need of nothing, and knowcst not that thou art 
the wretched and miserable and poor and blind and 
naked: 

I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire that 
thou maycst become rich; and white garments that thou 
mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy naked- 

47 



48 JSible Stu&i^ 



ness be not made manifest; and an eye salve to anoint 
thine eyes that thou mayest see. Rev. 3: 17-18. 

He becometh poor that worketh with a slack hand; 
But the hand of the diligent maketh rich. 

Prov. 10:4. 
Be ye free from the love of money; content with such 
things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise 
fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee. 

Heb. 13: 5, 
Weary not thyself to be rich; 

For riches certainly make themselves wings, 
Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven. 

Prov. 23:4-5. 
No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate 
the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the 
one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon. Matt. 6 : 24. 

And he said unto them. Take heed, and keep yourselves 
from all covetousness : f or a man's life consisteth not in 
the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he 
spake a parable unto them saying. The groimd of a certain 
rich man brought forth plentifully: and he reasoned 
within himself saying. What shall I do because I have not 
where to bestow my fruits? And he said. This will I do: 
I will pull down my bams and build greater; and there 
will I bestow all my grain and my goods. And I will sa}^ to 
my soul. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But 
God said unto him. Thou foolish one, this night is thy 
soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast 
prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up 
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. 

Luke 12:15-21. 



Hn tbe morh of Xife 49 

Charge them that are rich in this present world that 
they be not high-minded, nor have their hope set on 
the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who giveth us 
richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be 
rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, 
ready to sympathize; laying up in store for themselves a 
good foundation against the time to come, that they may 
lay hold on the life which is life indeed. 

I Tim. 6:17-19. 

And he that was sown among the thorns, this is he that 
heareth the word; and the care of the world and the 
deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh 
unfruitful. Matt. 13:22. 

For we brought nothing into the world, neither can 
we carry anything out; but having food and covering we 
shall be therewith content. 

But they that are minded to be rich fall into a tempta- 
tion and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such 
as drown men in destruction and perdition. 

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil : 
which some reaching after have been led astray from the 
faith, and have pierced themselves through with many 
sorrows. I Tim. 6:7-11. 

Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are 
no gods? Jer. 16:20. 

4 



50 JBible Stub^ 



WITNESS OF MEN 

It is probably much more happiness to live in a small 
house and have Warwick Castle to look at, than to live 
in Warwick Castle and have nothing to be astonished at. 

RUSKIN. 

Among all the idolatries of the Israelites, the worship 
of the golden calf was one of the most contemptible. 

Lord Avebury. 

I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue ; 
the Roman word is better, ''impedimenta,'' for, as the 
baggage is to an army so is riches to virtue ; it cannot be 
spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, 
and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the vic- 
tory; of great riches there is no real use, except it be in 
the distribution; the rest is but conceit. Bacon. 

Amphion remarked in the market of Athens, ''How 
many things there are in the world that I do not want!*' 

A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world. 
When he dies men will ask, "What property has he left 
behind him?'* But angels will inquire, "What good 
deeds hast thou sent before thee?** 

Arabic Proverb. 

Money for my little piece of work — to the extent that 
it will allow me to keep working: Yes, this — unless you 
mean that I shall go my ways before the work is all taken 
out of me; but as to wages Carlyle. 

Thus quoth Alfred : 
Without wisdom is weal full worthless; 
For though a man had seventy acres, 
And had sown them all with red gold, 



Hn tbe XKaotft of Xife 51 

And the gold grew, as grass does on the earth, 
Yet were his weal naught the further, 
Except he of the stranger maketh a friend. 
For what is gold but stone unless a wise man have it ? 

Tennyson. 

I desire money because I think I know the use of it. 
It commands labor, it gives leisure ; and to give leisure 
to those who will employ it in the forwarding of truth is 
the holiest present an individual can make to the whole. 

Shelley. 

Sir, if any other comes that hath better iron than you, 
he will be master of all this gold. 

Solon's Answer to Crcesus. 

Around this temple let the merchant's law be just, his 
weights true, and his covenants faithful (the inscription 
on the Church St. Giacomo de Rialto at Venice). 

The spirit of Jesus certainly has nothing but con- 
demnation for that great wave of money love which has 
swept over Christendom in our time, affecting all classes 
of people. It has fostered self-indulgence, brightened 
the charm of luxury, added to the zest of fashion, re- 
inforced the impulse to gambling, stimulated depraved 
appetites, corrupted business and politics, brought in 
new varieties of crime, oppressed the poor, deepened the 
bondage of excessive labor, increavsed the alienation of 
social classes, materialized the popular ideals, weakened 
religious influences, and made heavenly things seem far 
away. From this craze of the love of money the voice 
of Jesus calls the people back to sane life in ethics and 
religion in which he is leader. 

Clarke in The Ideal of Jesus. 



52 JSfble Stu&i? 



THE PLACE AND USE OF MONEY 

It is a great mistake to consider Jesus' teaching as a 
mild form of socialism or communism. He constantly 
associated with the rich people of his time and he laid 
particular stress upon the necessity of every individual's 
utilizing his every talent in being diligent and industrious. 
In the parable of the talents he justifies the increase of 
wealth, rebukes laziness, and commends the wise, practi- 
cal use of time and money. 

At the same time he was a friend to the poor and his 
ministry is written largely in the atmosphere of humble 
folk, quoting the words of the Prophet, *'He hath an- 
ointed me to preach glad tidings unto the poor. *' The Gos- 
pel of Luke is sometimes called the Gospel of the poor, 
and it is full of cheer and comfort for their encourage- 
ment, often mingled with warnings to the rich. Never- 
theless the teachings of Jesus were not aimed at riches, 
but at individuals. He did not commend or condemn 
money as possessing a moral quality; he considered it 
only in its effect upon individual success. When he said, 
'* It is hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of 
Heaven, " he was counselling, not so much against wealth, 
as against the temper and attitude of mind which wealth 
encourages. 

By his teaching and his life he emphasized the fact 
that there were greater things to live for than money, and 
he divined the truth that the man who set his heart on 
wealth had constructed for himself an almost insur- 
mountable barrier between himself and the Kingdom of 
Heaven, whose chief satisfactions are not in terms of 
things, but in terms of spirit. To the foolish rich man 
who settles down in the satisfaction of having enough for 
many years, and counts only upon enjoying it in self-indul- 
gence, he says, **Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul 



« 



1[n tbe XKIlorft of Xife 53 

required of thee'' — now, where are his riches? They go 
to another. They are valueless before that summons the 
time of whose coming no man knoweth. The trouble is, 
said Jesus, that such men have been laying up treasure 
just for themselves and are not rich toward God. Wealth 
has no clarion voice, no call to social responsibilities, no 
real meaning. The Master thus turns upon selfish 
wealth and indifference to humanity and the thoughtless 
self-indulgent rich of all ages and times the light of his 
clear perspective, saying, ''Your whole attitude of mind 
is wrong and your failure is as sure as death.** He 
throws upon the subject the lurid light of consequences. 
That is his meaning in the parable of Dives and Lazarus ; 
the consequences that surely flow from selfish luxury and 
self -centered striving are the things that are not meat, the 
things that do not satisfy the soul. 

Jesus never says that wealth is wrong, intrinsically 
wrong, but he raises the danger signal, saying, in brief, 
that the effort after money and great possessions in- 
evitably lays in a man's path a terrific opportunity to 
grow careless of his brother's need; it furnishes an arch 
temptation to put second things first in the general con- 
duct of a career. The fixing of the attention upon 
money, he teaches, produces an ambition centered upon 
things that are impermanent, and when these things have 
captured a man's life they determine the trend of that 
life and the spirit of all his endeavor. As he showed by 
his conversation with the rich young ruler, to give up the 
worship of mere possessions means something more than 
turning over money to the poor, it means the giving up 
or the changing of the central, regulating temper and 
disposition of the individual. This surrender or this 
change makes the man who is the servant of Mammon the 
servant of God, and money then falls into natural rela- 
tionship with the larger outlook. Without equivocation 



54 JBlble StuC)^ 



the Master teaches in the gospels that it is impossible 
to hold these two ideals of God and money in equal 
balance. One or the other must rule the life. Inso- 
much as life is more than meat and the body more than 
raiment he would say to the man of modem affairs, 
"Seek ye first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and 
all these things shall be added unto you. *' 

The teachings of the Bible, therefore, are plainly to- 
ward the right use of wealth, the right attitude toward 
money, rather than toward any sweeping abolition of it. 
He praised highly the widow who cast into the treasury 
' to the point of self-sacrifice, and he also had no rebuke 
for that generous, extravagant act of the woman at 
Bethany who broke over his feet a costly box of ointment 
in the impulsive exuberance of devoted love. As he 
prophesied, this act, the only one we know concerning 
her, has immortalized her. "A beautiful generosity 
that counted nothing too fine to be used for the heart's 
satisfaction.'* Better too much generosity than too 
much careful calculation of loving giving — better give 
too much than niggardly to withhold when the heart 
speaks. He would teach that the giving of self and 
money opens the heart, that hoarding or selfish use of 
wealth shut up the heart, and, out of the abundance of 
the heart the mouth speaketh. 

At bottom the Scriptural question is, "What is money 
for?*' Does it keep you from the great purpose of help- 
ing to build up on earth the brotherly Kingdom of God? 
If so, it is a millstone to drag you down from your possible 
high ideals. Happiness, success, character, earthly and 
eternal blessedness hinge upon a right will, a will 
right toward God, right toward self, and right toward 
humanity. The enemy of that "right wall,*' that 
"fixed design toward righteousness," whether it is 
money, pleasure, ambition, laziness, or lust — that 



irn tbe motft ot Xife 



:)0 



enemy is man's deadliest foe; man's only chance is in its 
annihilation. 

" And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck 
it out and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee 
that one of thy members should perish, and not thy 
whole body be cast into heir* (Matt. 5:29). 

And the hell referred to is not to come in another 
world — it is right here — the hell of being enslaved by an 
ideal that is lower than the highest — the loss in life and 
career of the really great satisfactions. 

The Bible enjoins **lay not up for yourselves treasures 
upon earth/' But, says one, how practical is all this? 
I live in a period of high cost of living, a period of material 
necessities that men did not know in Jesus' time, when 
Eastern customs of dress and housing and eating made 
economic conditions simple. I must think of money, and 
think of it hard and constantly. I have a family to 
support, children to educate, a respectable position in 
the community to maintain — then I need books and 
opportunity to travel, and friends and a place to recreate 
in the summer — my inevitable desires grow with my 
income — my responsibilities give me no choice but to 
work for money. 

Against the legitimacy of all this reasonable eflfort to 
fulfill one's duty towards oneself and those dependent 
upon him, Christ uttered no forbidding word, and none 
but the individual can decide just when the sufficiency of 
toil for bread should make way for time and opportunity 
to feed the spiritual life, for such arrangement of life's 
daily duties as to give opportunity to see life steadily and 
to see it whole, to get one's work in the right perspective. 

But the task for which earth and heaven hold every 
man in sublime responsibility, is to make sure that, 
through all of his getting and spending, there runs the 
increasing purpose of God. In the last and in nil \vuc 



56 Bible Stu&^ 



analysis, the life is more than the meat and the body 
than the raiment. Let a man spend a half hour each 
day thinking, '*Am I converting wealth into a friend of 
my higher resources?" Let him take the Bible passages 
of this study and lay them alongside of his personal Hfe 
plans. Let him not trick himself into ease of conscience 
by the specious excuse of immediate necessity, or by the 
popular proverb, ''A man must live." 

'*A man must live. We justify 
Low shift and trick to treason high, 
A little vote for a Httle gold. 
To a little senate bought and sold. 
By this self-evident reply. 

A man must live. Pray tell me why 
Life at such cost you have to buy? 
In what religion were you told 

A man must live? 

There is a time when a man must die — 
Imagine for a battle-cry 
For soldiers with the flag unrolled. 
For soldiers with a sword to hold. 
This coward's whine, this liar's lie, 

A man must live!" 



II 



IFn tbe umorft of Xife 57 

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

Solomon is said to be the richest man that lived. 
What was his estimate of money? 

Proverbs 30-8-9; 23:4; 22: 16; 23:5; 11:28; Eccl. 
5: 10-20; Proverbs 22:1. 

Do you think that Jesus could have succeeded better 
if he had been rich ? 

What did he teach was the real danger in regard to 
money? 

Mark 10:23-26; Matt. 13:22; 19: 21-25; I Tim. 
6:9-10; James 2: 1-7; 5: 1-7. 

Are philanthropy and charity plainly taught in the 
Bible? 

I Tim. 6:17-19; Matt. 19:21; I John 3:17; II 
Cor. 9: 7; Prov. 14:21, 31. 

Is the parable of the Good Samaritan appropriate in 
view of modern philanthropy? Luke io: 33. 

What was the teaching of the Old Testament concern- 
ing the oppression of the poor by the rich? 

II Samuel 12:1-6; Prov. 22:16-17; Ezekiel 22: 
29-31 ; Prov. 22 : 22-23 ; Psalm 62 : 10. 

Do you think that organized charities in our large 
cities are in line with the teaching of the Bible? 

Is promiscuous charity commendable? 

Is there any truth in the feeling sometimes experienced 
that organized charity takes away the real value derived 
from personal giving to a personal object? 

What did Paul teach concerning private ownership of 
wealth? I Tim. 6: 18. 

Do you think that a man can atone for "tainted 
money" by giving it to charity? 



58 muc stubs in tbe Morft of Xife 

Is tithe-giving taught in the Bible as necessary? 
Is it incumbent on Christians to-day? 
Deut. 14: 22-29; Matt. 23: 23 {cf, I Cor. 16: 2). 

Can you find in the spirit or the letter of Jesus' teach- 
ing any commands that would lead one to believe it was 
not right to own property? 

Can you find teachings that would suggest the duty 
as well as the privilege of owning property? 

What was the New Testament idea of stewardship? 
Luke 16: 1-14; Luke 12: 42-48; I Tim. 6: 17-19. 

Dr. Theodore Vetter, rector of the University of 

Zurich, told me that the very wealthy men of Switzer- 
land were not as a rule influential. In fact that becoming 
a millionaire was not a common ideal among the Swiss; 
that the man who was simply rich and did not take a 
patriotic or an unselfish interest in the welfare of society 
was little respected. 

Do you think that the tendency in x^merica of judging 
men by the money they possess is increasing or decreas- 
ing? 

Read Luke 16; Proverbs 8: 13-22; Ecclesiastes 5; 
Psalm 112; Matthew 6: 19-33. 



V 

Education in Religion 



S9 



EDUCATION IN RELIGION 

The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. 

Job 28:28. 

For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things 
that may be desired are not to be compared unto it. 

Proverbs 8:11. 

And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind. Matt. 22 : 37. 

He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to 
them that have understanding. Daniel 2:21. 

In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said 
unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon 
said unto God, Thou hast showed great loving-kindness 
unto David my father and hast made me king in his 
stead. Now, Jehovah God, let thy promise unto 
David my father be established ; for thou hast made me 
king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. 
Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out 
and come in before this people; for who can judge this 
thy people that is so great? And God said to Solomon, 
Because this was in thy heart and thou hast not asked 
riches, wealth or honor, nor the life of them that hate 
thee, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked 
wisdom and knowledge for thyself that thou mayest 

61 



62 Bible Stubi5 



judge my people over whom I have made thee king: 
Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee ; and I will 
give thee riches, and wealth and honor, such as none of 
the kings have had that have been before thee; neither 
shall there any after thee have the like. 

II Chronicles i : 7-12. 

But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it 
shall be given him. James 1:5. 

Through wisdom is a house builded; 
And by understanding it is established; 
And by knowledge are the chambers filled 
With all precious and pleasant riches. 
A wise man is strong. 
Yea, a man of knowledge increaseth might. 

Proverbs 24:3-5. 

How much better is it to get wisdom than gold. 
Yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than 
silver. Proverbs 16: 16. 

Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his 
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, 
let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that 
glorieuh glory in this, that he hath understanding, and 
knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth loving- 
kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth: for in 
these things I delight, saith Jehovah. 

Jeremiah 9: 23-24. 



IFn tbe Morh of Xife 63 

WITNESS OF MEN 

What is true knowledge? Is it with keen eye 

Of lucre's sons to thread the mazy way? 

Is it of civil rights, and royal sway, 
And wealth political, the depth to try? 
Is it to delve the earth, to soar the sky? 

To marshal nations, tribes in just array; 

To mix and analyze, and mete, and weigh 
Her elements, and all her powers descry? 
These things, who will may know them, if to know 

Breed not vain glory; but, o'er all, to scan 
God in his works and word shown forth below, 

Creation's wonders and Redemption's plan; 
Whence came we, what to do, and whither go; 

This is true knowledge, and the whole of man. 

Bishop Manx. 

The real use of all knowledge is this, that it should 
dedicate that reason which was given us by God for the 
purpose and advantage of man. Bacon. 

The world is founded on thoughts and ideas, not on 
cotton and iron. Emerson. 

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can 
take it away from him. An investment in knowledge 
always pays the best. Franklin. 

Let knowledge grow from more to more, 
But more of reverence in us dwell; 
That mind and soul according well, 
May make one music as before, but vaster. 

In Memoriam. 

Is it not time that we stop asking indulgence for learning 
and proclaim its sovereignty? Is it not time that we re- 
mind the college men of this country that they have no right 



64 JBible Stu5s 



to any distinctive place in any community unless they can 
show it by intellectual achievement ? That if a university 
is a place for distinction at all, it must be distinguished 
by conquest of mind. Woodrow Wilson. 

''Nothing after health and virtue/* says Goethe, ''can 
give as much satisfaction as learning and knowing." 

The value of all true education is in giving a man the 
ability to do the thing he ought to do when it ought 
to be done, regardless of whether he feels like doing 
it or not. Huxley. 

It is our endeavor to create a high potential of mental 
possibility rather than actual attainment. 

Pres. John D. Hibben of Princeton. 

Because you do profess to teach, and teach us nothing. 
Feeding not the heart. 

Tennyson's indictment of English Schoolmasters. 

My purse is empty: it can be filled again; the Jew 
Rothschild could fill it; or I can live with it very, very 
far from full. But, Gracious Heavens! What is to be 
done with my empty head? 

Carlyle, Letter to Henry Inglis. 

Education ought to banish dullness, which is one of 
the great dangers of life. Lord Avebury. 

Up! 'Tis no dreaming-time. Awake! Awake! 
For He who vsits on the high Judge's seat. 
Doth in His record mark each wasted hour, 
Each idle word. Take heed thy shrinking soul 
Find not their weight too heavy, when it stands 
At that dread bar from whence is no appeal. 
Lo, while ye trifle, the light sand steals on. 
Leaving the hour-glass empty, and thy life 
Glideth away ; — stamp wisdom on its hours. 

Mrs. Sigourney. 



Hn tbe Morft of Xife 65 

EDUCATION IN RELIGION 

Education, according to the Bible has three purposes: 
First. For Knowledge. 

The acquaintance with facts, information. 
Second. For Wisdom. 

The understanding of the relationships of knowledge. 
Third. For Conduct. 

The application of knowledge to life through experi- 
ence. 
Education for Knowledge. — In the Old Testament 
we read: 

For Jehovah is a God of knowledge 
And by knowledge are the chambers filled, 
and Jesus says : 

''Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make 
you free.*' 

Knowledge is the scientific basis upon which we build 
our opinion and our conduct; it is the working material 
of Ufe in general. Knowledge is always associated with 
power as ignorance is synonymous with weakness. 
"ICnowledge increaseth might,*' says Solomon. Knowl- 
edge, to the ancient Greeks and Romans, was identified 
with virtue, courage — "virtus" — and, not only in the 
philosophy of the Greeks, but in Hindu religions, knowl- 
edge, perfect knowledge, is the final goal of perfection. 
While it is true that a little knowledge is a dangerous 
thing, and certain of the worst criminals and enemies of 
society have been talented men, the general rule that 
connects ignorance with crime and sin holds historically, 
as in practical, modem life. 

Knowledge comes in various ways and is open to all. 

Literature, travel, conversation, study, experience, hard 

work, are all teachers of knowledge. "I am a part of all 

that I have seen," says Tennyson. We learn through 

5 



66 3Bible Stu&g 



the senses, through the intellect, through the heart, and 
through the spirit and the imagination. Other things 
being equal, the truly successful man is the man who 
knows most about all subjects of knowledge; Taine 
defined education as general knowledge. We sometimes 
say our educated man is one who knows something about 
everything, and everything about something. The 
wonder and surprise created by Jesus were in no small way 
due to his knowledge. He knew what was in man, we 
are told in the Gospel, and needed not that any man 
should tell him. "How knoweth this man letters having 
never learned!" was the amazed and impressed exclama- 
tion of the Pharisees, while his enemies in despairful 
confusion cried, ''Never man so spake." 

There is something solid, certain, and convincing about 
real knowledge. It gives assurance and dignity, and its 
possession is an earnest of all kinds of possibilities. 
Failure in business is often epitomized as inadequate 
knowledge, false judgment, the mistakes due to ill- 
considered or thoughtless action, while the business man 
who has gained thorough acquaintance of the field of his 
endeavor, who has thought through his own relationship 
to that field, is girded with a peculiar strength. 

The pursuit and acquirement of knowledge is the 
highest ambition of the scientist whose eternal question 
is, ''What are the facts?" The relationships of knowl- 
edge form the fundamental ambitions of the philosopher. 
The great German metaphysician, Immanuel Kant, 
spent the major portion of his life writing his three 
"Critiques of Pure Reason," and these views of philo- 
sophic knowledge have been the chief basis of mod- 
em European metaphysics. Three hundred and fifty 
thousand youths in the higher institutions of learning in 
America are spending four years each, and a total of not 
less than half a billion dollars each year in seeking 



In tbe miovli of Xife 67 

knowledge, while in the lower grades four hundred 
thousand preparatory and high school boys, and mul- 
titudes of children in the grammar schools are living 
testimonials of the universal consensus of opinion con- 
cerning the indispensable values of knowledge to equip 
for success. The United States spends yearly millions 
of dollars upon her schools, and the fundamental question 
of all American life, centers at present upon the query, 
*' What kind of education for our youth?*' 

Religious Knowledge. — The chief and most import- 
ant knowledge furthermore is religious knowledge, the 
knowledge of God. In his essay on Goethe, Carlyle 
refers to ''That religious wisdom . . . which in these 
hard, unbelieving, utilitarian days reveals to us ghmpses 
of the unseen but not unreal world that, so, the actual 
and the ideal may again meet together, and clear knowl- 
edge be again wedded to religion in the life and business 
of men.*' 

The well-known Church Catechism begins with the 
words, "What is the chief end of man?" and the answer 
follows, "To know God and to enjoy him forever." 
The fear of Jehovah, we are told in the Proverbs, is the 
beginning of knowledge. 

The immortal literature of the world is religious litera- 
ture. The Bible which is sold each year a hundred times 
more extensively than any other book, the Koran which 
is the one book of 223,000,000 of the earth's inhabi- 
tants, Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, 
the greatest imaginative picture of immortality extant, 
Shakespeare's Hamlet^ which turns on the eternal destiny 
of man, Browning's Saul, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of 
the Roman Empire, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Dante's 
Inferno, Goethe's Faust, the greatest literary masterpiece 
upon the conflict between good and evil, and practically 
every immortal thing that Emerson or Carlyle or 



68 Bible Stubi? 



Tennyson or Plato ever wrote — all hang upon the divine 
and human relationships, all are the hterature of religion. 
Where do we look for the world's masterpieces in art 
but in the galleries where hang the works of the old 
masters, where Titian and Angelo and Rafael and 
Rubens and da Vinci have expended their life genius 
under the inspiration of religion, depicting the story of 
Biblical Christianity? Can we think of any architecture 
which surpasses in sublimity, in magnificence, or in 
power of impressiveness the cathedrals of St. Peter, 
Milan, Cologne, of Notre Dame, of St. Paul or Salisbury? 
What wars have been fiercer or have left deeper marks 
upon the world's history than religious wars? While he 
who would read the biography of statesmanship or 
reform will scarcely pass by Mohammed or Luther, 
John Knox, Lincoln, Charlemagne, Gladstone, Savon- 
arola, Livingstone, Tolstoy, or Chinese Gordon, and in 
lonely spiritual isolation, Jesus Christ of Nazareth; these 
names are all written inefiaceably upon the religious 
hearts of men. In a survey of the world's fields of 
knowledge, this intangible spirit is all-pervasive and we 
may say convincingly with the Psalmist : 

'* Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? 
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 
If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there; 
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold thou art there. 
If I take the wings of the morning. 
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
Even there shall thy hand lead me, 
And thy right hand shall hold me." 



Hn tbe Tiaorft of Xffe 69 

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

Taine defined an educated man as one possessed of 
general ideas. Does American education produce such 
men? Does it equip youth with religious knowledge, 
for example? Is it feasible to incorporate books of 
religious knowledge in the public schools? 

In Isaiah 47:10 we read, '*Thy knowledge and thy 
wisdom it hath perverted thee, and thou hast said in thy 
heart, I am, and there is none else besides me.** What 
is the result of such knowledge, the knowledge that 
''puflEeth up''? 

I Cor. 8:1-4; Isaiah 47: 11; Rom. 1:28. 

Archimedes said that if he had a lever long enough and 
a fixed point to rest it on, he could move the world. 
Does education succeed in finding this fixed point for 
the business man, the professional man, the teacher? 

Do sin and failure come from wrong education, 
wrong thinking, as much as from environment ? What 
kind of education is necessary to form rightly a man's 
thinking? 

Cowper describes the difference between knowledge 
and wisdom in the following verse : 

"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one. 
Have ofttimes no connection: knowledge dwells 
In heads replete with thoughts of other men ; 
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. 
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass. 
The mere materials with which wisdom builds, 
Till smoothed and squared, and fitted to its place, 
Does but encumber whom it seems t' enrich. 
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much, 
Wisdom is humble that he has learned no more.** 



70 JSfble Sttt6s 



Does this agree with the Biblical definition of knowl- 
edge and wisdom? 

Professor Phelps at Yale strongly advocates that every 
student entering the University should be examined 
in his knowledge of the Bible in order to secure the 
equipment of the young man in English literature. Do 
you consider the literary value of the Bible an indispens- 
able adjunct to education? 

Mr. Ruskin said to the students at Oxford . 

" Read your Bible, making it the first morning business 
of your life to understand some portion of it clearly, and 
your daily business to obey it in all that you do under- 
stand. To my early knowledge of the Bible I owe the 
best part of my taste in literature, and the most precious 
and, on the whole, the most essential part of my 
education. II Tim. 3: 14-17. 

Considerable discussion in educational circles has been 
brought about by the Amherst alumni who have ad- 
vocated the dropping of the Bachelor of Science degree 
at Amherst College and devoting the entire attention to 
classical or literary training. Do you think that a college 
has its use in America which during its four years' course 
gives no attention to the training of a student for a prac- 
tical vocation? Is a young man justified in spending four 
years in securing a general education? Would you say 
that the chief value of education is to teach men to think? 

I have asked many German educators the question, 
"What is the object of education?*' The usual answer 
is, first, '*To fit men for service to the State. '* This 
ideal has not been prominent in American education. 
Should it be? 

A certain public man has a practice of reading news- 
papers standing — lest he spend too much time over them. 
Whither is American journalism tending? Is the policy 



Hn tbe nmorft of Xlfe 71 

of the average newspaper to print only current "news" 
justifiable? Has journalism a mission, or is it merely to 
print what the people want? 

Certain religious periodicals print no news of disas- 
ters, scandal, or sensational proceedings. Do you think 
it possible for newspapers generally to succeed with 
such a policy? 

What does the Bible teach concerning the possession of 
zeal and enthusiasm without knowledge? 

Rom. 10:2-3. 

Is not true education dependent upon the personality 
of the teacher? Tennyson said of Arthur Hallam: 

And thou art worthy; full of power; 
As gentle; liberal-minded, great. 
Consistent; wearing all that weight 

Of learning lightly like a flower. 

How do you account for the wisdom and insight of 
certain humble folk who have never had the advantage of 
education in the schools? 

Is not self -education dependent upon religious educa- 
tion? 

Rom. 11:33; Matt. 11:25; I Cor. 12:8; John 7:17; 
I John 2 : 20; I Cor. 2 : 10-13. 

Read Proverbs 3. 



VI 

Is Prayer Essential for Success? 



73 



VI 

IS PRAYER ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS ? 



Belief. — Then came the disciples of Jesus apart and 
said, Why could not we cast it out ? and he saith unto 
them, Because of your little faith : for verily I say unto 
you if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall 
say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; 
and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible 
unto you. Matt. 17:19-21. 

But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it 
shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing 
doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the 
sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that 
man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; a 
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 

James 1:5-8. 

Importunity. — And he said unto them, Which of you 
shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, 
and say to him. Friend, lend me three loaves; for a 
friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have 
nothing to set before him; and he from within shall 
answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut 
and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise 
and give thee? I say unto you, though he will not 

75 



76 JSible Stubs 



rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of 
his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he 
needeth; and I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given 
you ; seek and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he 
that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall 
be opened. Luke 11:5-10. 

Work. — Not everyone that saith imto me, Lord, 
Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he 
that doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven. 

Matt. 7:21. 

Sincerity. — And he spake also this parable unto cer- 
tain who trusted in themselves that they were right- 
eous and set all others at naught : Two men went up into 
the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other 
a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with 
himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of 
men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this 
Publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all 
that I get. 

But the Publican standing afar off would not lift up so 
much as his eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon his breast 
saying, God, be thou merciful to me a sinner. I say unto 
you, this man went down to his house justified rather 
than the other; for everyone that exalteth himself shall 
be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be 
exalted. Luke 18:9-14. 

Simplicity. — And in praying use not vain repetitions 
as the Gentiles do : for they think that they shall be heard 
for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto 
them, for j^our Father knoweth what things ye have need 
of, before ye ask him. Matt. 6:7-8. 



« 



f n tbe Moth of Xite 77 

Alone with God. — And when ye pray, ye shall not 
be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in 
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they 
may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have 
received their reward. But thou, when thou prayest. 
enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, 
pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who 
seeth in secret, shall recompense thee. 

Matthew 6:5-6. 

Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the 
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find 
grace to help us in time of need. 

Hebrews 4:16. 



WITNESS OF MEN 

When first thine eyes unveil, give thy soul leave 

To do the like: our bodies but forerun 

The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave 

Unto their God as flowers do to the sun. 

Give Him thy first thoughts then ; so shalt thou keep 

Him company all day and in Him sleep. 

Joseph Nessima took as his motto for the great work 
he accompHshed in Japan, ''Let us advance upon our 
knees." 

Do not ask anything of God which you would not wish 
man to know; nor anything of man which you would not 
wish God to know. Seneca. 

"Bought by the power of prayer, ** is the motto written 
across the first building of the Young Men's Christian 
Association in India. 



78 Bible Stubp 



The veteran missionary, Bengal, was known for his 
deeply devoted prayer life. One of his friends being 
curious to hear the missionary pray when he was quite 
alone, concealed himself in the room one night while 
the devoted man was at work. After hours of patient 
toil, the old man arose and throwing aside his garments 
fell upon his knees and said in a perfectly natural voice, 
''I thank thee, O God, that we meet on the same old 
terms. *' He then arose and went to his couch. 

Enoch Arden returning from his long wanderings 
arrived by night to look across his garden and see his 
home and family, dear to him, in the hands of another. 
He refused to break in upon that happiness, but crept 
down to a little hut beside the sea to work and to die 
alone. He was not however without compensation, for 
as Tennyson described him, 

He was not all unhappy. His resolve 
Upbore him, and firm faith, and evermore 
Prayer from a living source within the will. 
And beating up through all the bitter world 
Like fountains of sweet water in the sea 
Kept him a living soul. 

O, Prayer, thou mine of things unknown, 

Who can be poor possessing thee.^ 
Thou wert a fount of joy alone, 

Better than worlds of gold could be. 
Were I bereft of all beside. 

That bears the form or name of bliss, 
I yet were rich, what will betide. 

If God in mercy leave me this. 

Edmeston. 

Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice 



irn tbe Morft of Xlfe 79 

Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 

For what are men better than sheep or goats 

That nourish a blind life within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 

Both for themselves and those who call them friend? 

For so the whole round earth is every way 

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. 

The Passing of Arthur . 



IS PRAYER ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS? 

Hoffman the great painter said that he caught the 
figure of his masterpiece, the bo}^ Jesus, from a certain 
Dresden youth, but the face he gained by prayer. 

Prayer is chiefly valuable in revealing to us the nature 
and the character of God, a medium of knowing our 
Father. Ruskin says that the greatest thing a human 
being can do in this world is to see something, and then 
go and tell what he has seen in a plain way. If this be 
true, the man who learns the secret of finding God, of 
seeing Him face to face in spiritual vision day by day, 
and who can go out from that vision splendid to make all 
things according to the vision seen in the mount, as 
Moses did, that man is truly the world's great man. 
There can be no really bad days for such a man. 

The difference between men is not simply in the things 
which they see, but also in the vividness with which 
they see them. The person who has the inner conscious- 
ness of God through spoken or unspoken prayer possesses 
a peculiar power of certainty and assurance, whatever 
his life may be. He feels like Paul who said, when other 
things were falling away from him, "Have I not seen 
Jesus Christ?*' He is guarded from disappointment and 
defeat by the realization that God is on his side, that He is 



8o Bible Stubs 



truly interested in him and that he can turn to Him as 
naturally as the flower turns to the sun for inspiration 
and for light and for growth. This certainty made the 
martyrs of the early Church. It has been the main- 
spring of power in the great leadership of the world. It 
has stirred to persistent and irresistible effort men like 
Jesus, who have been isolated by the very greatness of 
their vision, lifted out of banalities and the commonplace 
by the ever-present, divine assurance that the Psalmist 
felt, **Thou art near, Lord/' 

But prayer not only brings to the individual the 
consciousness of God, it also affords a true appreciation 
of one's self. ''Know thyself,'' said the old Greek 
philosopher, and gathered in these two words one of the 
chief means for character building. Prayer, especially 
when it is earnest, secret prayer, reveals the true nature 
of the individual as compared with the character of 
Christ. We are told that Mark Antony pointed out 
the various rents in the robe of the murdered Caesar 
and identified each rent with the name of the cruel 
smiter ; Ukewise in prayer one learns to place for a moment 
at least one's thoughts upon the weaknesses and the 
failures of the daily life and to identify these with their 
causes. One learns to say, 

"Search me, O God, and know my heart, 
Try me and know my thoughts 
And see if there be any wicked way in me, 
And lead me in the way everlasting.*' 

There is no greater need and no need attended by 
greater difficulty of habitual performance, than this need 
to cultivate the habit of prayer, of silent communion with 
God, the art of spiritual contemplation, the ability to be 
alone, to think and to pray. The average person knows 



Hn tbe Morh of Xife 8i 

a hundred things better than he knows himself. He 
sees too much to see any one thing clearly. His friends 
and acquaintances, his work and his play are subjects 
of constant thought and conversation, but how many 
have the habit of spending at least once a week an hour 
alone, in the solitude of their own personality, far from the 
strife of business and the externalities of social life? We 
mistake emphasis and enthusiasm for wisdom and per- 
spective — driven by the time spirit. Jeremy Taylor used 
to call this getting away for silent prayer '* practicing 
the presence of God.*' 

"If chosen men could never be alone, 
In deep mid-silence open-doored with God 
No greatness ever had been dreamed or done." 

Each year, freighted with its new discoveries of scien- 
tific laws, makes it easier for the thoughtful person to 
believe in prayer. In the light of the marvelous inven- 
tions of the twentieth century, prayer is no longer a 
miracle. The miraculous character of certain answers 
to prayer, found not only in the Bible but also in life, is 
made intelligible by modern discovery of laws which were 
heretofore hidden, reminding us that there are still 
other laws whose workings are, as yet, known only to the 
divine mind. One thing is certain, proven by history 
and personal experience, that these laws of God are 
intended for good, to make His children happy; that He 
who watches a sparrow's fall is in constant and intimate 
relationships for protection and for peace with the men 
and women whom He has placed upon this earth. Their 
faith expressed in Him is the spontaneous and eternal 
sign of His fatherhood and care. 

The great Gospel message for prayer is to launch out 
upon the goodness of God and His willingness and eager- 

6 



82 3Bible StuDs 



ness to help His children. ''Ask and ye shall receive," 
is a kind of refrain running through all of Christ's teach- 
ings. Prayer is the adventure of our belief in the Al- 
mighty. It is the utter casting of ourselves upon a God 
who cares for us, who is more willing to give than we are 
to ask, and who says over and over again, ''Come unto 
me, and I will give you rest." 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

What are the conditions, according to the Bible, for 
successful prayer? 

Matt. i8: 19-20; Mark 11:24-25; John 16:23-24. 

Would you call the awakening of the Prodigal Son, the 
rising up of his spirit in a longing for his father and his 
home, a prayer? Luke 15: 17-18. 

William James called mystery the ''more-to-be- 
known.'* Do you think that what is commonly called 
a miracle is necessarily an infraction of natural law 
because we cannot explain it? Is it limiting the 
Almightiness of God to believe that He chooses to 
work according to laws and knowledge of which we have 
not yet gained? 

What do you think Jesus achieved by prayer? What 
have you ever achieved by prayer? 

What kind of prayers did Jesus prefer? 

Matt. 6: 5-15; Matt. 21 : 22; Mark 12: 40. 

Do you really expect that your prayers will be an- 
swered? Would you be surprised to see them literally 
fulfilled? Do you act in accordance with your prayers? 

Dan. 9:20-23; John 14: 13-14; John 15: 16; John 
16:23-24; James 1:5-7- 



IFn tbe Morft of Xife 83 

A young man confessed that he was hindered from 
entering the Christian Hfe by a number of well-meaning 
people who repeatedly assured him that they were pray- 
ing for him. Does it really help you to know that people 
are praying for you? Under what conditions is it helpful 
to know that people remember you in their prayers? 
Does the kind of person who does the praying make a 
difference? Job 42: 8; James 5: 16. 

If prayer is universal and necessary for happiness and 
success, why are not prayer meetings more popular? 

Do you believe in prayer for the daily events of human 
life? 

A good many people hold that it is worth while to 
pray for definite needs in the case of important events 
and decisions, or at times of sorrow, temptation, or 
calamity. Tad Jones, the former football star at Yale, 
astonished many of his fellow-students at a foot-ball 
dinner at Cambridge subsequent to a Yale victory. 
When asked what he thought was the reason for his 
success in the game, he answered that he had spent 
several hours praying that he might be able to do his 
very best that day. 

Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him, 
To all that call upon him in truth. Psalm 145: 18. 
Hebrews 10: 22; Psalms 62: 7-8; I John 5: 14-15. 

Is it ever right to pray for things that seem unreason- 
able to us? For example is it sensible to pray to God to 
heal diseases without the use of medicine or medical skill 
when these are at hand? 

Again we find Jesus praying before he raised Lazarus 
from the dead saying, "Father I thank thee that thou 
hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always," 
showing that his prayer for Lazarus had been constant 



84 Bible Stubs in tbe morft of Xite 

though silent, and that he had the assurance in his own 
heart of the answer before the event. Have we a right 
to indulge in such seemingly unreasonable prayers? If 
so, why? If not, what reasons would you present? 

When praying for help, especially in times of trouble, do 
we really leave our burdens with God or still carry them? 
Jesus said to Martha, " Said I not unto thee, that if thou 
believedst, thou shouldst see the glory of God?'* 

There are times in the lives of most persons when one 
has no inclination to pray; physical weariness or great 
anguish of spirit, or at times the consciousness of sin or 
depression seems to exclude prayer. 

Should a person have a habit of prayer that takes him 
to God regardless of his feelings? At such times a cer- 
tain sect maintain you should go to another for prayer. 
Do you agree with this? What did Jesus teach regarding 
prayer under such circumstances? 

Matt. 26: 36-46; Luke 18: i. 

The survivors of the Titanic disaster tell of the univer- 
sal promptings to prayer on the part of virtually all of 
the hundreds of passengers, regardless of their beliefs, 
which would seem to show that prayer expressed or 
unexpressed is a universal characteristic of the human 
heart. Do you believe this and how is it explained? 
Promises of God: I John 5:14-15; Isaiah 58:9; 
Matthew 18:19; Matthew 7:7; Psalms 50 : 
15; Psalms 91: 15; I John 3:22; Read Psalm 51; 
John 17. 



II 



VII 
God*s Laws for Happiness 



85 



VII 

GOD'S LAWS FOR HAPPINESS 

These things have I spoken unto you that my joy may 
be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 

John 15: ii. 

And whoso trusteth in Jehovah, happy is he. 

Proverbs 16: 20. 

The battle is not yours, but God's. 

II Chronicles 20: 15. 

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name : ask, and 
ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full. 

John 16: 24. 

A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance. 

Proverbs 15: 13. 

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy 
wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted 
thy works. Ecclesiastes 9: 7. 

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you ; not 
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart 
be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 

John 14: 27. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. 

Luke 17:21 
87 



88 3BfbIe Stubs 



Thou wilt show me the path of Hfe; 
In thy presence is fullness of joy ; 
In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. 

Psalm i6: ii. 

These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye 
may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; 
but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 

John 16:33. 

Casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth 
for you. I Peter 5:7. 

In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer 
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be 
made known unto God. Phil. 4: 6. 

Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. 

Phil. 2:5 

Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands. 

Serve Jehovah with gladness; come before His presence 
with singing. 

Know ye that Jehovah He is God ; 

It is He that hath made us, and we are His; 

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, 

And into His courts with praise ; 

Give thanks unto Him, and bless His name. 

For Jehovah is good : His loving- kindness endureth for- 
ever, 

And His faithfulness unto all generations. 

Psalm 100. 

And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, 
shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ 
Jesus. Phil. 4:7. 



irn tbe mork ot Xife 89 

WITNESS OF MEN 

If a man is unhappy this must be his own fault. God 
intended every man to be happy. Epictetus. 

If all can not live on the piazza, every one may feel the 
sun. Italian Proverb. 

You have not fulfilled every duty unless you have 
fulfilled that of being pleasant. 

Charles Buxton. 

Theodore Parker, erudite and capable, exclaimed upon 
his premature death-bed: ^*0h that I had known the art 
of life, or found some book or some man, to tell me how to 
live, to study, to take exercise, to be really happ}^'* 

Light foot, tight foot, 
Green grass spread; 
Early in the morning 
Hope is on ahead. 

R. L. Stevenson. 

Whoever enjoys not life, I count him but an apparition, 
though he wears about him the visible affections of 
flesh. Sir T. Browne. 

I find earth not gray, but rosy, 
Heaven not grim, but fair of hue. 
Do I stoop? I pick a posy; 
Do I stand and stare? AlFs blue. 

Robert Browning. 

I have fallen into the hands of thieves. . . . They 
have not taken away my merry countenance, my cheerful 
spirit, and my good conscience. 

Jeremy Taylor. 



90 JSfble Stu5p 



In the teaching of Christ, happiness was not only the 
reward of duty, but a duty itself. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

So take Joy home, 
And make a place in thy great heart for her, 
And give her time to grow, and cherish her. 
Then will she come and oft will sing to thee, 
When thou art working in the furrows, ay, 
Or weeding in the sacred hours of dawn. 
It is seemly fashion to be glad, 
Joy is the grace we say to God. 

Jean Ingelow. 

Oh, Lord, how happy should we be 
If we could cast our care on Thee, 

If we from self could rest ; 
And feel at heart that One above, 
In perfect \\4sdom, perfect love. 

Is working for the best ! 

Carlyle. 



GOD'S LAWS FOR HAPPINESS 

What is the secret of happiness? It is the universal 
question; to discover it is the constant and common 
ambition of men. 

Varro, years ago, cited two hundred and eighty-eight 
opinions of philosophers with reference to happiness. 
One school of metaphysics maintains that happiness is 
the chief end of life ; at times it has meant to philosophers 
and to theologians, pleasure, at other times a utihtarianism 
working ''the greatest good to the greatest number, '' and 
again, Duty. 



1 



Hn tbe Morft ot Xife 91 

It is quite generally conceded that men find happiness 
not by seeking it directly but along the way to a worthy 
goal. Like good health it is the attendant of useful 
occupations. It is the music which is the gladness of the 
world, the joy of seeing others happy. Plutarch said 
that he first began to write biography for the sake of 
others, but soon found that the lives of the men whose 
personal history and achievements he was studying were 
serving as rich examples for his own improvement and 
happiness. 

Religion at its height is a transport, a new heaven and 
a new earth; it is defined in the New Testament as 
light and life and hope and peace. The Bible is full 
of songs. Christ speaks of a sinner's conversion as 
creating ''joy in heaven.*' Happiness is the magic 
which makes the reformed thief and drunkard a factor 
in the salvation of others. John B. Cough's glad 
triumph was the message of his life. Harold Begbie has 
said that at the ver}^ heart of the mystery of conversion 
there is a wild joy. 

Happiness is not a matter of chance nor of mere good 
luck, it depends upon certain unchanging laws. 

HAPPINESS THE RESULT OF RIGHT THINKING 

The Bible is rich in emphasis of the fact that as a man 
thinketh in his heart, so is he. Paul teaches that lasting 
peace and power come from bringing every thought into 
subjection to Cod. ''The mind is its own place," says 
Milton, "and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a 
Hell of Heaven." One is peculiarly impressed in the 
study of the life of Jesus with the tranquillity and 
poise of mind which he brought to every task and 
exigency. The quality, the direction, and the attitude 
of his mind seemed to lift him above the power of cxter- 



92 Bible Stu5s 



nalities. It gave him the sense of authority which im- 
pressed all who heard him speak. 

He gave to the world for consideration the unique and 
tremendous truth that sin was a matter primarily of the 
thoughts and imaginations, and that it was possible for 
heinous sin to exist in the attitude of a man's mind. He 
exhibited in his own life the fact that no physical chain 
can bind the personality of one whose mind is free and 
pure. 

''Man, what are you saying/' says Epictetus, when 
they told him that they were going to put him in prison, 
''you may put my body in prison, but my mind not even 
Zeus himself can overpower.'' 

This attitude of mind is of vital importance if one is to 
be permanent^ happy. It is not onl}^ important to 
subject the mind to the scrutiny of God, but it is indis- 
pensable to keep the thoughts turned constantly toward 
success, toward positive things, toward affirmations 
rather than the negations of life. Our careers are directly 
colored and shaped by the things we think about. No 
man who wishes to be happy should allow his m.ind to 
rest on failure or loss or defeat; he should never mention 
them; these things should be passed by as incidents 
merely, as lessons of experience toward the final achieve- 
ment upon which a man's thought must be riveted with 
invincible determination. Recently a man said to me, 
*' My business career was a failure," and I realized at once 
that this v/as true largely because the settled attitude 
of the man's mind was toward failure rather than toward 
successful accomplishment, toward the past rather than 
toward the present with all its wealth of possibility to 
everj?' indefatigable worker. 

That which we allow our minds to dwell upon deter- 
mines largely our direction of progress, as well as the 
character and extent of that progress. If you would be 



•ffn tbe morfi of Xife 93 

happy, turn away from your ill-feelings to happy thoughts. 
Ponder your friendships rather than your enmities. It is 
nature's way to make us forget our physical illnesses 
almost as soon as they are passed; Hkewise we should 
forget our failures and our weaknesses in the acceptance 
of God's ever fresh invitation to be right with Him and 
therefore happy. 

Happiness is the result of right thinking, the result of 
keeping the mind fixed upon high and joyous things 
through a regular habit of meditating upon the friend- 
ship and the power of God, with whom we are working 
in unison. 

HAPPINESS IN SELF-MASTERY 

Happiness is an inner possession, an inner victory — 
it is always our own victory. Jesus furnished the world 
a model for the attainment of the happy life by living 
according to his guiding principle, which was, "not my 
will but Thine be done.'' The will is the man and the 
keenest satisfactions of the spiritual life come with its 
mastery. It is through the moral elevation of our inner 
self, as Henry Drummond once said, that our real success 
is measured or is measurable. 

The happiness of self-mastery lies in the control of 
one's passion, temper, appetites, and in the ability to 
make one's self do the things that he ought to do at the 
time they should be done. A decided foe to happiness is 
the loss of self-respect which is the price that a person 
pays for the surrender of self-control. All losses can be 
borne more easily than the loss of one's self. This dis- 
respect for our own individuality is also dependent upon 
our attitude toward the happiness of others. There are 
no permanent satisfactions at the expense of human loss 
and degradation. Just as truly as there is no real per- 



94 Bible StuDi? 



sonal and abiding joy in the ways of license and domi- 
nance of the senses, so there is no permanent happiness 
which is gained at the cost of the stained whiteness of 
another's life. 

The matchless prize of a happy life is the restilt of a 
controlled will. 

'*0h, well for him whose will is strong; 
He suffers, but he can not suffer long; 
He suffers, but he will not suffer wrong! 
Nor moves for him the loud world's random mock, 
Nor all calamities' hugest waves confound. 
He seems a promontory of rock 
That, compassed round with turbulent sound, 
In middle ocean meets the surging shock. 
Tempest-buffeted, but citadel-crowned." 

HAPPINESS IN WORK 

Carlyle said that it was unnecessary for men to be 
happy provided they had work to do. But if men have 
work, their work to do, and do it in the right spirit, they 
will be happy. Happiness is being in one's own place 
with one's own tools in one's hand. Work that really 
belongs to us lifts us out of the commonplace ; it takes our 
minds off ourselves and our cares and grievances. It 
makes us citizens of that most royal kingdom, the 
kingdom of happy occupation. Activity is really the 
royal road to happiness. 

Carlyle wrote to his mother : 

''You can not think what a comfort the feeling that I 
am doing an honest work in God's creation, whether I 
be ever paid for it or not, gives me; I have not been as 
contented for many years. The great uproar of London 
is a great beautiful moving picture for me ; I say t'^ it, with 
the greatest good nature, ' Go thou thy way, I am going 



IFn tbe Morh ot Xife 95 

mine.' There is no blessedness in the world equal to 
that. '' 

When you are unhappy go and do something for others. 
Richard Cobden lost his wife, and shortly afterwards his 
daughter; he was utterly in despair and was ready to die. 
His friend John Bright came to him one day and said: 
''Cobden, there are sixty thousand children who are 
to-day slowly dying in England by reason of overwork 
and long hours in the mills and factories. Why not 
harness your sorrow to a life-work for these children? 
This suggestion was the expulsive power of a new affec- 
tion for Richard Cobden. It was to him the incentive 
for his greatest life-work, the work for which he will be 
remembered longest by Englishmen. Not every one 
can be a Richard Cobden to harness his sorrow or defeat 
to a vast undertaking, but every one can produce the 
same joyous effect in his own life by answering the call at 
his very door for some unselfish service. 

What is the guiding principle upon which we can be 
assured of right thoughts, right will, and right occupation, 
and thereby be assured of our birthright, which is happi- 
ness? It lies in the certainty that we are fulfilling our 
career under the eye of God. To be sure that we are 
doing the will of God in our particular life-work means to 
be sure that we are going to have God with us in every 
extremity and in every daily need, and this is the absolute 
certainty of being and remaining happy. There is a 
universal will of God for all the world to follow. It 
exists in doing right, in being honest, truthful, and pure 
in mind. There is also an individual will of God for 
every person, a will of God which is suited to our own 
individual capabilities and task and position in life. 
Unless we fulfill that will of God in our particular niche, 
the vast circle of God's purpose on earth will bo incom- 
plete. No one can do this particular will of God for me. 



96 Bible Stubi? 



For me alone is the task. For me alone is the crown of 
victory, for me alone is the joy of fulfillment, for me 
alone is the realization of the definite promise of Christ 
that **my joy may be in you and that your joy may be 
made fuU." 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

How would you define happiness in the light of your 
own experience? 

Is happiness a duty? 

Psalm ioo; Eccl. 9:7; Phil. 4:8-9; Matt. 
6: 16-17; Phil. 4: 4-7. 

Is the thing that gives you pleasure taking away from 
the happiness or well-being of persons affected by your 
acts? Is this a legitimate test of right pleasure? 

I Cor. 8: 9-13; Matt. 25:40. 

Christ dealt with individuals. Crowds came to him 
to be healed, but he did not heal them in crowds, but 
individually, fitting his injunctions to particular cases. 
Would this signify that God has a type of happiness 
particularly fitted to each individual? 

Are people originally and by temperament happy? 
If unhappy is it due to a development of wrong faculties? 
How can this be remedied? 

The medieval churches were filled with gloom and 
crucifixes; Christ was always "the man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief.'' Was this the predominating 
characteristic of the Jesus of the gospels? 

John 8; 12; Matt, ii: 19; John 2: i-ii. 



1[n tbe Morft of Xife 97 

Why is a man who gives way to his appetites and 
passions never permanently happy? 

Gal. 5: 16-25; Rom. 6:23; Rom. 8:6. 

Mark Antony sought happiness in love, Brutus in 
fame, Caesar in power, Solomon in splendor; Antony 
found disgrace, Brutus disgust, Caesar ingratitude and 
death, Solomon (in his words) *'all is vanity." What 
was the reason of their failure? 

In Cardinal Newman's hymn Lead, Kindly Light, he 
says: 

Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see 
The distant scene ; one step enough for me. 

Do we miss happiness by failing to find it at our very 
doors in the day's work? Are you looking for happiness 
in the future instead of to-day? 

Do you believe that God intends happiness for every 
human being? What are you doing towards the fulfill- 
ment of God's laws of happiness for individuals less 
favored than yourself — for example, the poor in our 
great cities, the country boy who is struggling against 
heavy odds, the children in the factories, the men and 
women in the sweat shops, the man who is the slave to 
drink? 

Promises: Eccl. 2:26; Psalm 4:7-8; Psalm 128: 1-2; 

Psalm 36 : 7-8 ; Phil. 4:19; Psalm 37 : 23-25 ; 

Isaiah 54:10-17; Isaiah 51:11; Psalm 46; Isaiah 

61 ; John 14. 



VIII 
The Art of Being Quiet 



99 



VIII 

THE ART OF BEING QUIET 

And the work of righteousness shall be peace : and the 
effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. 

Isaiah 32: 17. 

Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith 
Than a house full of feasting with strife. 

Proverbs 17: i. 

The Lord said to Elijah : *' Go forth and stand upon the 
mount before Jehovah/' And, behold, Jehovah passed 
by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains 
and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah. But 
Jehovah was not in the wind; and after the wind an 
earthquake ; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake ; and 
after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the 
fire; and after the fire a still small voice (a sound of 
gentle stillness). I Kings 19: 11-12. 

He leadeth me beside still waters. 

Psalm 23: 2. 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; 
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your 
heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 

John 14:27. 

Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say 
Rejoice. Let your forbearance be known unto all men. 



102 JSfble StuJ)^ 



The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious; but in 
everything by prayer and suppUcation with thanksgiv- 
ing, let your requests be made known unto God. And 
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall 
guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. 

Phil. 4:4-7. 

Study to be quiet. 

I Thess. 4: II. 

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ; nor for 
the arrow that flieth by day; 

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for 
the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 

For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep 
thee in all thy ways. Psalm 91 : 5, 6, 11 . 

Let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorrup- 
tible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the 
sight of God of great price. I Peter 3 : 3-4. 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. 

Isaiah 26:3. 

I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, 
prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all 
men ; for kings and all that are in high place ; that we may 
lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. 

I Tim. 2:1-2. 

Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! 
Then had thy peace been as a river; and thy righteous- 
ness as the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48: 18. 

Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and 



Hn tbe Morft of Xite 103 

learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. Matt, i i : 28-29. 

For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, 
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

Rom. 14: 17. 

Great peace have they that love Thy law. 

Psalm 119: 165. 



WITNESS OP MEN 

If one does not have rest in himself, it is useless to seek 
it elsewhere. La Rochefoucauld. 

I know that what we all want is inward rest, rest of 
heart and brain, the calm, strong, self-contained, self- 
denying character which needs no stimulus, for it has no 
fits of depression ; which needs no narcotics, for it has no 
fits of excitement ; which needs no ascetic restraints, for 
it is strong enough to UvSe God's gift — without abusing 
it. A character in a word which is truly temperate, not 
in drink and food merely, but in all desires, thoughts, 
and actions. Freed from the wild lusts and ambitions to 
which that old Adam yielded, and seeking for light and 
life by means forbidden, found thereby disease and 
death. Charles Kingsley. 

An eminent physician has attributed physical break- 
down to ''those absurd feelings of hurry and having no 
time, to that breathlessness and tension, that anxiety of 
the future and that solicitude of results, that lack of inner 
harmony and ease. It is your relaxed and easy worker 
who is in no hurry, and quite thoughtless the while of 
consequences, who is the most efficient worker. Tension 



104 Bible Stu5i? 



and anxiety, present and future, all mixed up together 
in one mind at once, are the surest drags upon steady 
progress and the true hindrances to our success/' 

Not in the turmoil of the busy street, 

Nor in the noise and confusion of the throng, 

But in otu-selves are triumphs and defeats. 

Longfellow. 

We might have peace, great peace. 

If we would not load ourselves with others' words and 

works 
And with what concerns us not. 
How can he be long at rest 
Who meddles in another's cares, 
And looks for matters out of his own path, 
And only now and then gathers his thoughts within him! 

Thomas A Kempis. 

What a day ! 

To sun me and do nothing, nay I think 

Merely to bask and ripen, is sometimes the 

Student's wiser business. 

To mix his blood with sunshine, and to take 

The wind into his pulses. 

Lowell. 

The Lady Moon is my lover, 
My friends are the oceans four, 
The heavens have roofed me over, 
And the dawn is my golden door. 
I would liefer follow the condor 
Or the sea-gull, soaring from ken, 
Than bury my godhead yonder 
In the dust of the whirl of men. 

Chang Chih-Ho. 



fin tbe morft of Xtfe 105 

The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd 
keeps with perfect sweetness the serenity of soHtude. 

Emerson. 

THE ART OF BEING QUIET 

No trait of Jesus is more universally pictured in art or 
literature than that of his composure — his serenity, his 
calm and subdued strength, the outcome of deep reflec- 
tiveness and knowledge of men. Only once or twice 
during his entire recorded ministry did he present any 
suggestion of rashness or departure from his accustomed 
tranquillity, and then, as in the cleansing of the temple, 
he dominated the scene with great might, as one who 
had the authority and knew well the compass of his 
power. He was Hke a master \4olinist who stands before 
his orchestra sure of his note and in perfect control, 
sweeping his instrument with an assured stroke. Jesus 
possessed the art of never being taken off his guard. 
He had what we lack in oiu* modern rush and stress — 
peace of mood. 

Even in the midst of occasions of joyousness or con- 
fusion we are bound to think of Christ as being the 
master of himself, as being capable of thought and correct 
perspective. 

One of the most impressive pictures which I have ever 
seen is Titian's House of Levi, in the Academy at Venice. 
The whole scene is full of life and motion; the table is 
filled with happy guests; busy servants are seen hurrying 
on all sides; the air of merriment and varied intercourse 
is apparent. But the figure that gives meaning to it all 
is that of the Master sitting in the midst; in it with every 
sympathetic and human sense, but yet somehow in- 
tangibly apart from it, no sign of far-away abstractedness, 
no trace of disdain, but with all, a benignly calm and 



io6 Bible Stu&i? 



deepl}^ joyous face, as one who knew how to use 
joy without abusing it. It was the picture of the 
fundamental happiness that accompanies quietude and 
vast reserve, the figure of a man in whose central life 
there flowed a great purpose, who was bound to ex- 
perience and enjoy every proper phase of life, but 
who was no less under obligations to save both his 
spiritual and his physical machine from unnecessary 
wear and tear. 

Consider the event in the garden of Gethsemane, when 
the soldiers came to take him to the judgment hall, when 
he knew his hour had come. Jesus stood in the midst of 
his startled accusers, his fearful, nervous disciples in 
fear and trembling leaving him alone, Peter, the man of 
impulse, doing the very thing he ought not have done, 
through rashness and ill-considered loyalty — in all this 
tragic scene Jesus was the one forceful personality. 
With what detachment and perfect deliberation he 
addressed the Roman guard. ''Are ye come out as 
against a robber, with swords and staves to seize me? . . . 
Or thinkest thou that I cannot beseech my Father and 
He shall even now send me more than twelve legions 
of angels? How then should the Scriptures be fulfilled 
that thus it must be?'' With what logic his answer: ''I 
told you that I am He. If therefore ye seek me, let 
these go their way. . . . The cup which the Father 
hath given me, shall I not drink it?'' 

There was no false motion, no loss of power in words, no 
exhibition of fear, though, as John tells us in his account, 
''the soldiers went backward and fell to the ground." 
We discover no anxiety, no explosive anger at the utter 
unreasonableness and wrong of the betrayal and capture, 
which, an ordinary person most certainly would have 
impulsively resented. Here is no useless expenditure 
of passion over the inevitable, but we find rather that 



irn tbe Morft of %iU 107 

the accused is really on the throne of judgment, himself 
a judge on his day of trial. Each individual, from the 
soldier of the Roman guard to Pilate himself, instinctively 
felt this. It was the world's marvel of self-control 
and composed power; no like exhibition is on 
historical record. Here was the master of the art of 
quietness. 

How can a person achieve such power of quietude? 
How can one gain such force without the exhibition of 
weakness or inaction? At times we go into a business 
man's office and feel something in his presence that 
we can not quite express, the sense of man behind or 
within his presence; the conscious reserve of a large 
spiritual capacity. Manifestly this power is the accom- 
paniment of all real success, of all real and permanent 
greatness. 

There are three Scriptural rules for the attainment of 
quietness. 

First. — Take time to prepare. No one gets to feehng 
deeply about any matter without spending time to dwell 
upon it, keeping one's thoughts upon it with some 
regularity and persistence. Jesus' attitude of assurance 
and settled calm before his enemies was the result of his 
previous night of spiritual struggle and preparation in 
which he gained by prayer the ability to take with a 
steady hand the cup of his destiny. Nor was this 
custom unusual with him. The account tells us that 
he took his disciples and went to the garden "as he was 
wont. " To him as to us, the inner struggle in the loneli- 
ness of one's own personality is more important and 
decisive than the outward fulfillment. To Jesus, Geth- 
semane was more important than the judgment hall, 
more decisive than the cross. 

It is a suggestive study to read the Gospels to find out 
the times when he slii)pcd away from tlio crowd to be 



io8 Bible Stubs 



alone. To him as to every great soul there was great 
spiritual renewal in 

''the calm 
That nature breathes among the hills and groves." 

The lack of preparedness is the reason for most of 
human failure and mistake. The regiment which fails 
to prepare upon the parade ground to meet adequately 
the enemy's guns will vainly strive to make up for its 
deficiencies upon the field of battle. The boat that is 
just capable of keeping upright in the quiet harbor will 
have little chance in the open sea. 

The young man who goes wrong in the city falls, not 
because he wishes or intends to lose his manhood, but, 
in the majority of cases, because he lacks the moral and 
spiritual reserve to withstand the sudden and unexpected 
approach of temptation. He goes down amidst a lot 
of ceaseless, rushing, distracted activities, with no time 
to get his bearings, with no time to charge his will with 
self-control. Mark Twain said he was like his razors, 
he must have time to renew his edges. 

For many years in one of our great cities, it was my 
work to meet young men in difficulty ; men who often had 
been worsted by vicious habits. After hearing many a 
tragic life story, I became accustomed to ask as almost the 
first question, ''What was your early training? *' The 
hope of retrieval and reformation of such men, I found by 
practical experience, depended almost wholly upon their 
reservoir of moral and religious reserve. It is not a mere 
sentiment to say of a man that he had a good mother, or 
that during the susceptible years of his life he was 
thrown constantly amongst people who taught him the 
fundamental principles of righteousness, or that he once 
knew the subdued strength of being quiet. This period 



1[n tbe Morft of Xite 109 

of preparation is without doubt the secret of the period of 
later power. 

A gentleman well acquainted with customs in China 
showed me the immense advantages of certain missions 
whose practice it was to take for training the young 
Chinese boys and girls at an early age, in accordance 
with the principles of the Catholic Church, ''Give us a 
child for seven years and we will be satisfied to let you 
have him for the remainder of his life. '* 

This lack of early preparation, however, may be made 
up in part by any person who is willing to pay the price 
of forming a quiet and serious habit of study and personal 
devotion — getting apart — ''going home much, " as Emer- 
son called it. Consider, for example, the use of Sunday 
as a day of preparation for the other days in the week. 
Try taking an hour each Sunday morning for a month 
to read one of the great books in the Bible, having in 
mind its relation to the coming week's work. 

The Swedish explorer who crossed the great Chinese 
desert told his men to load their camels for a ten days' 
journey. After they had proceeded three days through 
the desert sands, one of his men came to him and said, 
''Alas, master, we only loaded the camels for four days* 
journey, and the water is nearly gone. '' As the account 
tells us, the servants were left behind one by one as the 
days dragged on; one by one the great "ships of the des- 
ert'* foundered and fell; the explorer himself with one of 
his men just escaped death and reached the other edge of 
the desert. If they had anticipated their need with the 
kind of preparation necessary they could have defied the 
desert. With the right use of Sunday, I venture to say 
that practically all of the great temptations and struggles 
of the modern week may be fronted with success. It is 
not the question so much of remembering the Sabbath day 
to keep it holy, as it is, in the phrase of PhilHps Brooks, 



no Bible Stu5s 



'* Remember the Sabbath day and it will keep you holy. '* 
Yvhat is Sunday doing for you as a day of preparation 
for the great powers of composure and self-control? 
Are you taking time to relax, to think, to grow spiritually 
capable? 

Second. — Be certain that your motive is right. 

There is no enemy to quietness like the sense of doing 
wrong. There is no equipment for control of action so 
mighty as a conscience void of offense towards God and 
man. Conscious sin destroj^s balance and unhinges 
every human faculty. To be sure we are told that 
certain criminals reveal on the witness-stand nerves of 
iron, but their keepers tell us that these men are closely 
watched when they return to their cells for an inevitable 
weakening, due to a false power of mastery. There is a 
distinct difference between an exterior that is bom of 
sheer will-power and one that is the natural result of a 
settled and imperturbable spirit. Paul said to the 
Thessalonians, ''Our Gospel came not unto you in word 
only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in 
much assurance." God said to Jacob that He had 
changed his name after his struggle and trial from Jacob 
to Israel. ''For thou hast striven with God and with 
men, and hast prevailed." 

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee, " said Isaiah. 

Third. — Lay hold on God with perfect confidence. 

When a man has taken time for preparation through 
the certainty of an absolutely right motive according to 
the light which is given him, he has a right to expect God 
to supply his deficiencies and to support him in his 
extremity of need. God possesses the things belonging 
to our peace because He is capable of supplying every 
need of ours through His infinite riches. The Psalmist 
says, "All my springs are in Thee," and Paul said, "I 



irn tbe Mork ot %IU m 

know him whom I have believed and I am persuaded that 
he is able to guard that which I have committed unto 
him. '' No loss of friends or money, no untoward circum- 
stances, no difficult or dark passages of life can discour- 
age those who are right with themselves and with God. 
As Dante says, '^In His will is our peace,'' and there is 
no possibility of failure as long as this attitude and trust 
are combined with steady action. **Seek God," says 
Ffoelon," within yourself and you will surely find Him* 
and with Him peace and joy." 

The art of being quiet is the art of believing God. 

"Father, I know that all my life, 
Is portioned out by Thee, 
The changes that are sure to come 
I do not fear to see; 
But I ask Thee for a patient mind, 
Intent on pleasing Thee. " 

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

Dwight L. Moody used to say, ''Character is what a 
man is in the dark." Is the sense of being right and 
knowing in our inmost hearts that we are right, the 
foundation of a quiet spirit? Matt. 5: 27-30. 

Is fear of any kind consistent with the art of being 
quiet? Does it not help to eliminate fear when we con- 
sider with what a bountiful hand God has provided both 
nature and man? How He has supplied the oak with 
more acorns than are necessary! how the fruit trees are 
loaded down with a surplus of bloom ! how the birds are 
fed with abundant resources! how, in fact, everything 
in nature is given generously and not niggardly! "Are 
not five sparrows sold for two pence? And not one of 
them is forgotten in the sight of God. But the very 



112 Bible Stub^ in tbe morft of Xffe 

hairs of your head are all numbered; fear not; ye are of 
more value than many sparrows/' 

Think of the reassuring effect of reading every morning 
the sixth chapter of Matthew. 

G. Lowes Dickinson said that the chief end of Ameri- 
cans seems to be ^* acceleration/' and if you ask them 
why such haste, they answer, ''Why, we go faster/' Is it 
not possible to possess the ability of direct and rapid 
accomplishment and still retain the mood of perfect 
self-possession? 

What is the relation of the will to quietness of spirit? 
Can you will to be quiet and free from care and always 
succeed? 

John tells us that every one that committeth sin is the 
bond servant of sin. Is the essence of peace and quiet- 
ness inherent in the sense of freedom from the slavery of 
sin? Psalms 51:3; Heb. 10: 26-27. 

Do you think that poise of mind is an inherited or a 
cultivated faculty? 

Winston Churchill in his novel Inside the Cup lays 
great emphasis upon the fact of the personality of his 
chief character. How would you define personality? 
What do you consider its highest characteristics? Did 
you ever know a really great person who had not 
mastered the art of being quiet? 

As a remedy for the foes of quietness and peace have 
you tried the determination of keeping without exception 
a half-hour each morning for the purpose of getting into 
harmony with your highest ideals and with God? 

Psalm 121; Matthew 6. 

God's promises: Is. 32: 17-19; Is. 40: 31 ; II Cor. 13: 
II ; Psalms 37: 37; Phil. 4: 6-7; John 16: 33; Isaiah 
44 : 8 ; Psalms 27:1-6. 



IX 
God*s Laws for Health 



"3 



IX 

GOD'S LAWS FOR HEALTH 

Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy 
Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? 

I Cor. 6: 19. 

He sendeth his word and healeth them 
And delivereth them from their destructions. 

Psalms 107: 20. 

Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any 
cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? 
Let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them 
pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the 
Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, 
and the Lord shall raivse him up ; and if he have committed 
sins, it shall be forgiven him. James 5: 13-15. 

I will restore health to thee, and I will heal thee of thy 
wounds, saith the Lord. Jer. 30: 17. 

And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their 
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, 
and healing all manner of disease and all manner of 
sickness among the people. 

And the report of him went forth into all Syria: and 
they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with 
divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons and 
epileptic, and palsied: and he healed them. 

Matt. 4: 23-24. 
115 



ii6 Bible Stu&i? 



Bless Jehovah, O my soul; 

And all that is within me, bless his holy name. 

Bless Jehovah, O my soul. 

And forget not all his benefits ; 

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; 

Who healeth all thy diseases. 

Psalms 103: 1-3. 

Jehovah, my God, 

1 cried unto thee and thou hast healed me. 

Psalms 30: 2. 

A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh; 
But envy is the rottenness of the bones. 

Proverbs 14:30. 

But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of 
righteousness arise with healing in its wings. 

Mal. 4:2. 

A cheerful heart is a good medicine; 
But a broken spirit drieth up the bones. 

Prov. 17:22. 

And Peter said unto him, iEneas, Jesus Christ healeth 
thee : arise and make thy bed. And straightway he arose. 

The Acts 9: 34. 

And behold there came to him a leper and worshipped 
him, saying. Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me 
clean. And he stretched forth his hand and touched 
him saying, I will, be thou made clean. And straight- 
way his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8 : 2-3. 

And all the multitude sought to touch him, for power 
came forth from him, and healed them all. 

Luke 6: 19. 



irn tbe Morft of Xife 117 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that belie veth on me, 
the works that I do he shall do also; and greater works 
than these shall he do ; because I go unto the Father. 

John 14: 12. 

It is the spirit that giveth life ; the flesh profiteth noth- 
ing; the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, 
and are life. John 6: 63. 



WITNESS OF MEN 

Take thought for thy body with steadfast fidelity. 
The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they 
be dim, the whole world is clouded. Goethe. 

Yet however good our health may be, however care- 
fully we may regulate our diet or our habits, the body is 
so powerfully affected by the mind, that, as every skillful 
physician knows, it is often the mind rather than the 
body with which he has to deal. 

Sir John Lubbock. 

Lycurgus dedicated^a little statue of the god of laughter 
in each of the Spartan dining-halls. 

There is a growing belief that "God never made His 
work for man to mend." We are just beginning to 
discover that the same Principle which created us, 
repairs, restores, renews, heals us; that the remedies for 
all our ills are inside of us, in divine principle, which is 
the truth of our being. Wc are learning that there is an 
immortal principle of health in every individual, which, 
if we could utilize, would heal all our wounds and furnish 
a balm for all the hurts of mankind. 

Orison Swktt Marden. 



ii8 Bible Stu&^ 



''The Bible assures us that 'perfect love casteth out 
fear/ and fear is one of the most potent sources of dis- 
cord and disease. '' 

Mr. Taylor in his work on golf tells us that "to main- 
tain anything approaching his best form a golfer must of 
necessity live a clean, wholesome, and sober life. ... A 
man must live plainly but well, and he must be careful of 
himself. If he uses up his reserve force, or abuses him- 
self in any way, then he has cast his opportunities aside 
and he drops immediately out of the game. There are 
no half measures. You must do one of two things: be 
careful of yourself in everything, or forsake the game 
altogether. A man who lives a careless or vicious life 
can never succeed in golf or hope to keep his nerves or 
stamina.'' 

Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves. 

Shakespeare. 



GOD'S LAWS FOR HEALTH 

It is a significant fact that a large part of the active 
career of Jesus while on earth was occupied in restoring 
people to health. He was called the " Great Physician, " 
and during the three years of his public ministry, healing 
might truly be said to have been his vocation. He re- 
peatedly associated the healing of the body with the cure 
of the soul, and with the forgiveness of sin. It would 
seem that his cures and miraculous healing of all sorts 
of diseases were for the purpose of turning men's atten- 
tion to their spiritual condition, to the health of the 
soul. When accused of usurping the power of God and 
forgiving sin, he replied to his detractors: 



irn tbe Morft of Xife 119 

* 'Which is easier, to say, to the sick of the palsy, Thy 
sins are forgiven, or to say, Arise and take up thy bed and 
walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath 
authority on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick 
of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and 
go unto thy house/' 

It is also significant in this connection to notice that as 
far as the accounts tell us, Jesus himself was never sick; 
he did not suffer from the bodily diseases current in his 
time and still prevalent in Oriental countries. We have 
instances of his being weary, as for example when he 
sat and rested at the well in Samaria. He has been 
pictured by medieval art as a somewhat frail, certainly 
not a robust figure, but the justification for such portrayal 
is doubtful. It is indeed questionable whether a person 
could be other than decidedly robust and a possessor of 
good health to prove himself capable of undergoing 
such steady strain of travel by foot, teaching, preaching, 
and healing almost constantly, suffering the drain upon 
his sympathies of a multitude of sick and sorrow-stricken 
folk, in the midst of perpetual danger from hostile en- 
emies, and all this with a limited, human support in the 
way of friendships and material aid. 

Furthermore, we have no account of Jesus dwelling 
upon ills or bodily ailments. The historical records 
give no hint of his speaking of his bodily condition, save 
with possibly one or two exceptions to his disciples. 
Was it because his body was in such harmonious 
relation to his spirit that, as it is sometimes said of 
healthy children, he was unaware that he had a body, 
or was it because he had sufficient force of character 
to place his own ailments is the background in the light 
of his uplifting ministry of healing to those about him? 

The attention which the Bible gives to sickness and its 
opposite, health, suggests the need of a study of the laws 



120 3Bible Stii&p 



which God has laid down for bodily welfare. In the 
last analysis, good health is the deciding factor in real 
success. We look in vain for detailed or explicit rules 
in the New Testament, like those which Mohammed, for 
example, laid down for his followers, relative to bathings, 
the abstinence from alcoholic drinks, and certain meats, 
and domestic relations. Yet we can gather from the 
sweep of Jesus' matchless teachings a few plain truths 
regarding health. 

First: Good Health a Matter of Mental Atti- 
tude TOWARD Life. — We must conclude that the Scrip- 
ture, as found in the Gospels, places primal stress upon 
the kingdom that is within a man, his inner temper 
and disposition as indicative of the character and 
tendency of his life. The Gospel goes down below 
the body to the healing of the mind, to the renewing 
of the spirit as being the fundamental process. The 
condition of mind and the presence of belief were the 
constant objects of Jesus* first solicitude. We find 
him turning away from certain sections, not being able 
to do many mighty works there, ''because of their un- 
belief.'' He looked with keen gaze into the very 
heart of those who sought his healing powers, in- 
variably saying, ''Believest thou that I can do this?'* 
''AH things are possible to him that believeth, " as though 
far below the bodily incompetency was the necessity, for 
the sake of cure, of the right mental attitude. Get 
a right mind, an harmonious outlook upon life in 
general, and especially toward God, get right thoughts 
within your own heart, where the real Kingdom of 
Heaven starts, and the outer bodily healing will follow. 
This seems to be the drift of Jesus' wonderful cures. 

A skillful physician tells me that in a large percentage 
of cases it is with the mind rather than with the 
body he has to deal, and that very frequently the 



IFn tbe morft of Xife 121 

bodily weakness can be traced to wrong currents of 
thought or to the perversion of the uses of the members 
of the body by reason of perverted and morbid ideas. 
As Macbeth has said, 

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart? 

Certain religious sects teach that if one can get a right 
mental attitude toward God and the world of spirit, he 
will find the material handicaps and evils non-existent. 
The soul will win by freeing itself from bodily make- 
believe, by getting a new vantage point, by becoming a 
denizen of a new thought- world. 

Whatever our views may be regarding the science of 
this great principle of the power of mental and spiritual 
forces over the body, it is fairly well agreed that good 
health waits upon pure thoughts, the settled determina- 
tion to disregard as far as possible ideas of sickness, 
weakness, and failure, and to think health, strength, and 
success. 

The harboring of a grudge, for example, may mean 
physical breakdown. It poisons the blood ; it warps the 
mind; it narrows the sympathies; it injures the power of 
concentration; it stops us; it wastes our bodily tissue, and 
it takes time. Gladstone said, "I haven't time to hate 
anybody.'* The Scriptural pages are full of the great 
injunction to love rather than to hate. 

Anger and temper are also mental states directly 
inimical to health. Across the Chapel of Baylor Univer- 
sity, I once read the motto ]^laccd there by former Presi- 



122 3Bible Stubi5 



dent Burleson: ** Young gentlemen, have a resolute 
life purpose. Don't get mad, and don't get scared!*' 

While living in Cairo, we had an Armenian servant 
whose temper was uncontrollable. She flew into a rage 
over the merest trifle, frequently entering into physical 
combat with the Arab market-men who brought the 
provisions to the house. After one of these fits of temper 
she turned a peculiar shade of yellow which continued 
for several days, and often her temper made her so ill 
that she was obliged to go to bed. Her mental distemper 
had poisoned her entire physical nature. 

There are few foes of the body more fatal than the 
unbridled passions of anger and hatred which carry in 
their train so many other evils, called by the Apostle, 
''the works of the flesh/* 

**Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are 
these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, 
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, 
divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, re veilings, and 
such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn 
you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit 
the Kingdom of God." 

These represent the crimes, not simply against the 
body, but against God's laws of love, and visit upon 
the person the physical recompenses that always attend 
the breaking of God's laws. 

Second: Good Health Dependent upon a Right 
Attitude toward God. — The man who gets firmly 
rooted in his consciousness and experience that God 
is love, that He is not a God who delights in the 
chastisement or in the illness and unhappiness of His 
children, secures a divine support towards becoming 
and keeping well. The idea that God sends ill-health 
and misfortune comes from a misconception of God's 
nature and a wrong attitude toward God Himself. 



irn tbe MorF? of Xife 123 

Throughout the Scriptures we find the words, heaHng, 
health, and hoHness, in close relationship. It is my belief 
that God means that His creatures shall be well. If we 
are unwell and persist in aggravating our diseases, we 
may well examine the causes, to see if they do not go 
back to some of the above-named weaknesses of our own 
nature. 

Furthermore, we should look to this same loving God 
in perfect confidence, if we are in line with His will, to 
give us these physical blessings of health and the ability 
for happy work, just as we look to Him for spiritual 
favors. These two departments of the physical and 
spiritual have too often been separated in our prayers and 
in our creeds. The man is one, and he can only be the 
whole man as God intended him when his body is a 
sound and fit temple for the dwelling of his immortal 
spirit, and this we have a right to ask of the God who 
loves us and who wants to make the most of us for Him- 
self, for ourselves, and for the world in which He has 
placed us with a mission. 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

What would you say was God's first law for health? 

If disease were a disgrace the same as sin, would there 
be so much disease? 

Are good health and wrong motives compatible? 

We often hear of people who grow ill with no bodily 
symptoms of disease, simply from brooding over a sin 
or crime. 

What is the relation of conscience to health? 



124 Bible Stu&s 



Do you think there are any real values in disease and 
sufferings of the body? 
If so, what are they? 
Do you think that God sends sickness? 

Deut. 8: 18-19. 

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote many of his books 
under the shadow of a great disease. In his letters he 
tells us that it took him sometimes two weeks to write a 
page of manuscript. 

What was the secret of his triumph over his body? 

Does intemperance in drink or impurity differ in kind 
of wrong from intemperance in eating, in speaking, in 
thinking, or in overwork? 

A successful man once told me that he owed his 
splendid health to the observance of Sunday as a day of 
absolute rest. He virtually did nothing on that day 
that he did on other days of the week. 

Do you believe in a real rest day? Do you observe 
one? 

Is not the experience of France, for example, where 
one rest day in seven has been prescribed by law and 
not religion, significant in our thought concerning the 
question? 

In Japan one rarely sees an unpleasant face. From 
earliest childhood the Japanese are taught to smile and 
to refrain from showing any indication of pain or distress. 
It is a proverbially healthy race. What is the physio- 
logical connection between this habit and good health? 

Dr. Richardson has said, ''Anger, hatred, grief, and 
fear are among the influences most destructive of 
vitality.'' 

Do you think that ill-health is the result of individual 
sin? How about inherited disease? '*' 



ji 



irn tbe Morft ot Xife 125 

Do you think that an unconscious attitude of mind, for 
example, a growing habit of querulousness, criticism, or 
envy, will bring on ill-health? 

Do you find in the New Testament account of Jesus' 
healing of disease a warrant for believing that sickness 
can be cured to-day by faith in God without the use of 
human agencies? 

Do you consider the use of medical science and the 
employment of physicians inconsistent with the belief 
in God to cure disease? 

Do you think that the power to heal was given to 
Christ alone, to show that he was the Son of God? 

Acts 3:1-16; Acts 5:12-16; Acts 20:9-12; Luke 
9:2; Acts 28:8-9; Acts 9:32-42; Acts 14: 8-10. 

Read the cures of Christ and find out what condi- 
tions he imposed. 

Matt. 8:1-17; John 11:1-44; Luke 13:10-13; 

Luke ii: 14-20; John 4:46-54; Matt. 15:29-31; 

Matt. 15 : 22-28 ; Read Psalm 37. 



X 

What Makes a Friend ? 



127 



WHAT MAKES A FRIEND? 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
down his life for his friends. John 15 : 13. 

A friend loveth at all times. Proverbs 17: 17. 

A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to 
Jericho; and he fell among robbers who both stripped 
him and beat him, and departed leaving him half dead. 
And by chance, a certain priest was going down that way : 
and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 
And in like manner a Levite also when he came to the 
place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a 
certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; 
and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, 
and came to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on 
them oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and 
brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on 
the morrow he took out two shillings, and gave them to 
the host and said. Take care of him; and whatsoever 
thou spendest more, I, when I come back again, will 
repay thee. Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved 
neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers? And he 
said. He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said 
unto him. Go and do thou Hkewise. 

Luke 10:30-37. 
9 129 



I30 JBible StuC)p 



There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 

Proverbs i8: 24. 

As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also 
to them likewise. Luke 6: 31. 

No longer do I call you servants; . . . but I have 
called you friends. John 15: 15. 

Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how oft shall 
my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven 
times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until 
seven times, but until seventy times seven. 

Matthew 18:21-22. 

If, therefore, thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and 
there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against 
thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy 
way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and 
offer thy gift. Matthew 5 : 23-24. 

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one 
another. I John 4: ii. 



Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? 

Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 

He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, 

And speaketh truth in his heart ; 

He that slandereth not with his tongue, 

Nor doeth evil to his friend, 

Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. 

Psalm 15: 1-3. 



Hn tbe morft of Xife 131 

WITNESS OF MEN 

Mirabeau said that self-help and friendship are the two 
indispensable traits for success. 

Let me live in a house by the side of the road 

Where the race of men go by, 
Men that are bad and men that are good, 

As bad and as good as I. 
Let me not sit in the scomer's seat, 

Nor hurl the cynic's ban. 
But let me live in a house by the side of the road 

And be a friend to man. 

Sam Walter Foss. 

Charles Kingsley was asked the reason for his success- 
ful life; he answered simply, '' I had a friend. '' 

A great educator has said, ''The youth who has gone 
through college and at its close has not found one friend 
into whose face he can look and say honestly, ' I am thy 
friend,' and then can hear the returning answer, 'Yes, 
and I am truly thy friend, ' — this youth has lost one of 
the richest boons of his college career.'' 

" They seem to take away the sun from the world who 
withdraw friendship from life; for we have received 
nothing better from the immortal gods, nothing more 
delightful." 

A man once described his friend thus: ''He does not 
really teach mc anything, but by being brought into his 
presence, one becomes something." 

Then gently scan your brother man, 
Still gentler, sister Woman, 



132 Bible Stu!>i5 



Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, 
To step aside is human. 
• • • • • • • 

Then at the balance let's be mute, 

We never can adjust it ; 
What's done we partly may compute, 

But know not what's resisted. 

Burns. 

No one is useless so long as he has a friend. 

Stevenson. 

" Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling 
safe with a person — having neither to weigh thought, nor 
measure words, but pouring them all right out just as 
they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faith- 
ful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth 
keeping, and with the breath of comfort blow the rest 
away." 

A friend is worth all hazards we can run. 
Poor is the friendless master of a world; 
A world in purchase of a friend is gain. 

Dr. Young. 

" Love is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or tends with the remover to remove. 
Oh, no. It is an ever fixed mark 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken." 



1[n tbe Morft ot Xite 133 

WHAT MAKES A FRIEND ? 

We find the Master at the joyous gathering places 
of friends, at dinners and weddings and at feast- 
days; we find him stealing away to Bethany to exchange 
the hot, busy air of the multitude for the rest of a friendly 
home; we find him in quiet walks and talks with his 
intimate disciples, and in the upper room of the Eastern 
houses, opening his inmost heart as a man can do only to a 
few friends of his confidence and love. 

In Mark 3 and the 14th verse we read, ''and he 
appointed twelve that they might be with him.'' And 
these were with him, on the shore of the little lake, in the 
fields of grain, on the dusty roadways, and on the Mount 
of Transfiguration. He seemed especially desirous of 
having near to him at the hour of his greatest fight for 
supremacy in the garden of Gethsemane his closest 
friends. It was on this occasion that he singled out his 
three loved disciples, men in the inner circle of his 
friendship, Peter, James, and John, and asked them to 
watch with him for a single hour. It was not because 
they perfectly understood him — they were still dull, 
stupid learners, frequently marring by their crude 
mistakes more than they could repair by their successes. 
They were not yet capable of arriving at his great secret ; 
indeed in this deepest struggle of Christ, there was some- 
thing too divine for any poor fisher folk to fathom; yet 
he wanted them with him because they were his friends, 
and just as every human reaches out for a sympathetic 
presence in its life's tragedy, so Christ longed for love 
and thoughtfulness to break the terrific solitude of his 
lonely battle. 

There is perhaps no more central and eternal quality of 
the human heart than this dependence upon sympathetic 
friendship. Men can live and be happy without money, 



134 Bible Stubs! 



without fame, and without learning — but few men can 
live the happy, worth-while life without friendship. 
The wife of a very wealthy man in New York said to 
me, **I have everything that money can buy: summer 
homes, yachts, automobiles, and expensive jewelry. But 
I would give them all for one or two friends who really 
cared for me just for my own sake." A young man 
came into my ofHce and said, '' I wish to ask the greatest 
favor I ever requested of any man in my life. " I began 
to think he wanted an especially good position or perhaps 
wished to borrow a larger sum of money than did the 
usual visitor with such a preface to his request. He 
hastened to show me my mistake by saying, *'I have 
been in this city for eight months, and during all that 
time, I have not seemed to find a single person who cared 
whether I lived or died. My heart is breaking for 
friendship. I have come to ask you this question: 
Will you be my friend?" As I took the young man into 
the inner office and closed the door against the world, as 
he told me of the deepest secrets, the joys and sorrows of 
his life, while I simply listened in sympathetic silence, as 
he went away with a new light in his face simply because 
he had spoken out his real Hfe, I was impressed to ask 
whether, after all, Drummond was not right, when he 
said, '* Greater than the power of wealth and fame is the 
ability of a man to keep his heart open for love's sake, to 
become a kind of healing confessional into which men may 
creep to tell out the great deep things of the spirit. " The 
man who has known sorrow and has had a friend who, quiet- 
ly coming into his home, has placed mutely a tender hand 
upon his own, knows something of the needs of Jesus and the 
opportunity which his disciples lost in that fateful hour in 
Gethsemane, for the thing that counts is the man of heart. 
George Eliot's prayer will never be out of place as long 
as there are human needs and great hearts to meet them. 



Hn tbe rnXovW of Xife 135 

Oh, may I join the choir invisible 

Of those immortal dead who live again 

In minds made better by their presence. 

Feed pure love, 
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty, 
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 
And in diffusion ever more intense. 
So shall I join the choir invisible 
Whose music is the gladness of the world. 

PUTTING one's self IN ANOTHER'S PLACE 

A few years ago while attending a conference in 
Kentucky, an incident was related to me concerning the 
way in which a rather simple man found a horse which had 
strayed away and which no other person in the town had 
been able to trace. Upon being asked how he found the 
horse, the man replied, "I first asked where the horse 
was last seen ; I went to the spot and shutting my eyes 
began to say to myself, ' I'm a horse, I'm a horse,' thinking 
all the time, ' Now I'm a horse and can go anywhere I 
please; where would I naturally go?' Pretty soon I 
thought of a fine piece of oats about a mile away. * I will 
go to those oats and eat as much as I can, and then I will 
lie down and enjoy myself.' I went to the field of oats 
and there was the horse. " It was the simplest thing that 
he could do. He put himself in the place of the horse. 

Professor Palmer calls this sympathetic, imaginative 
ability when found in a teacher, the "aptitude for vica- 
riousness. " It involves not only the discerning of what 
constitutes another man's burden but also assistance in 
helping him bear the same. 

A person who truly puts himself in another's position 
will not speak ill of his neighbor, for he will realize had 
he been in the same i)lacc, surrounded bylikeenvironment 
from his youth, subjected to similar temptations, he un- 



136 BMc Stix5s 



doubtedly would have been much the same kind of man. 
''Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you/' 
means that we must transport ourselves by thought to 
the point of view of our friends. This act usually 
precludes harsh judgments; it often prescribes silence or 
no judging on our part, for who can fully comprehend 
another's battle, another's circimistances? Jesus rightly 
confined judgment to God who knows men through and 
through. He knows not only otu- sin but also our inner 
recoil from that sin. He not only knows our wayward- 
ness but He also understands the dark hours of repentance 
and the sense of guilt which follows. He looks not only 
upon the outward appearance but also upon the heart. 
We have a high-priest who can be touched by the feeling 
of our infirmities, tempted in all points like as we are, 
yet without sin. 

FRIENDSHIP IS HELPING SOME ONE 

Henry Dnmmiond was asked by a young man how 
he should get to really care for other men as Drummond 
seemed to do. The answer received was, ''Go and do 
something for your friend!" We live in an age of con- 
ventions, conferences, organizations, and talks about ways 
and means. Hours, days, and sometimes weeks are spent 
in note-takings and conf errings upon relationships and the 
laying down of rules and regulations. Christians fre- 
quently are tired out talking about the things they ought 
to be doing, when few of us have begun to live up to the 
things we already know. I attended a convention some 
years ago in which days were consumed in argimient over 
principles of polity and organization. Just as the 
meeting was closing a man in the gallery said, "Mr. 
Chairman, I have heard about many things here but I 
have heard no word about doing anything for one's 



Hn tbe Mork of Xite 137 

friend, and the love of God/* To satisfy the man a 
motion was made to add a clause to a long list of policies, 
stating in a footnote the views of the assembly about 
friendship and the love of God — the love of God and 
friendship in a footnote! Let us have conferences, to be 
sure, in moderation, but let them not crowd out our 
practice. If Jesus had spent as much time in attending 
meetings and conventions as many of us professional 
Christians do to-day, it would have shortened at least 
by one third his working days on earth. The advice of 
an athletic leader of the Christian Association at Har- 
vard a few years ago was not inappropriate regarding the 
ciiltivation and the actual accomplishment of Christian 
friendship: '' Do a lot of work and don't talk much 
about it/* 

What do we really give to our friends? 

FRIENDSHIP AN UNDEVIATING CONFIDENCE 

Jesus believed in men and saved them by his tie of 
confidence. "Nobody cares, '* are the words of many a 
man's doom. Never give a man up. Refuse to believe 
evil of people, concentrate upon people's virtues rather 
than their faults. 

I used to walk along the streets of New York with 
Robert R. McBurney, the pioneer secretary of the New 
York Young Men's Christian Association, a man who did 
more perhaps than any other to shape the policies and 
the power of that work on the American continent, as did 
Sir George Williams, the founder in England. I have 
seen him look upon a young man with his face aglow, 
exclaiming, ''What a fine fellow that is !" and I thought of 
Jesus looking upon the young man in a way that caused 
his disciples to say, "And Jesus loved him." This 
greatness, this largeness of heart c amc through a scttkxl 



138 Bible Stu&p 



habit of McBurney's life not to distrust but to believe 
in men. In spite of the many times he was deceived by 
falseness, the most frequent words I can remember 
were, ''There must be something good in that man. I 
shall give him another trial/' 

This determined confidence is the secret of friendship. 
If God did not follow that principle where would we be 
to-day with all our pretensions? — for no man who is hon- 
est with himself can free himself from the realization ex- 
pressed by Luther, who was heard to cry, *'My sins, my 
sins!'' Remember that God believes in us, that He has 
not cast us off, that He said, '' I will never leave nor for- 
sake thee ; fear not, I am with thee.'' These are the notes 
of permanent encouragement in our relation to His di- 
vine friendship. It is this utter belief and loyalty which 
brings us friends and keeps them for us. What if every 
prisoner coming out of his prison had had a friend to take 
him by the hand and say, '*I will stand by you, I have not 
lost confidence in you. You have it in your power to 
succeed, I am your steadfast friend " ? The power that 
one person has to hearten and to save another who is his 
friend is beyond all compute. This is the good news of 
Christianity. This is the basis of friendship, love be- 
tween man and man and between man and God. This 
confidence and belief — it is love finding its goal and reason 
for being, in helping, in hoping, and in believing all 
things. 



IFn tbe Morft of Xife 139 

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

An eminent statesman has defined Christianity as a 
great friendship. How does your friendship with God re- 
semble your friendship with your best earthly friend? 
What are the differences? 

Why do you love your friend? What kind of un- 
selfishness does real friendship include? 

Matthew 5: 43-48; Luke 6: 36-38. 

Tennyson once said about his friend that whether or 
not he had letters from him, he knew that ''he was 
always there. " Are broken friendships real friendships? 
Is a test of friendship in its lasting qualities? 

When did Jesus seek help from his friends and find 
them inadequate? In what did their failure lie? 

Mark 14: 4. 

Peter was a fickle and impetuous friend to Jesus, yet 
Jesus loved him and gave him a place in the inner circle 
of his friendship. What does this teach in relation to 
friendship? 

What about a man who claims to love God and yet 
holds hatred in his heart for some person? 

I John 4: 20. 

Gladstone said, " I do not have time to hate anybody." 
Do you think that unfriendliness is a greater cause of 
worriment or disadvantage to others than it is to one's 
self? 

We often hear persons say that they have no friends. 
Does not the law of compensation to the end that you get 
what you give, work in the realm of friendship? 



I40 muc Stu&^ in tbe Mork of %itc 

Do you think it right to criticize or judge absent 
friends, and under what circumstances? How did the 
love of Jesus for men differ from earthly friendship? 

Romans 5: 7-10. 

Is it possible in modern life to follow the teaching of 
Jesus in Luke 6: 27-43? 

Read the Old Testament friendship classic concerning 
the love of David and Jonathan. 

I Samuel 18:1-5. 

Also David's lamentation over the death of Saul and 
Jonathan. II Samuel i: 19-27. 

Note the way in which the New Testament rebukes 
speaking ill of others. 
James 4:11-12; Matt. 7:1-2; Matt. 5:21-22; 
John 8:3-11; Gal. 6: 1-3. 

One of the few cases in the New Testament where 
Jesus showed deep emotion was over the death of his 
friend Lazarus. Read John i i : 1-44. 



XI 

The Man Who Works 



141 



XI 

THE MAN WHO WORKS 

Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food 
which abideth unto eternal Hfe, which the Son of man 
shall give unto you: for him, the Father, even God, hath 
sealed. John 6: 27. 

Blessed is every one that feareth Jehovah, 
^ That walketh in His ways, 
For thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands; 
Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. 

Psalms 128: 1-2. 

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 
deluding your own selves. For if any one is a hearer of 
the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding 
his natural face in a mirror : for he beholdeth himself and 
goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of 
man he was. But he that looketh into the perfect law, 
the law of liberty, and continueth, being not a hearer 
that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall 
be blessed in his doing. James i : 22. 

Go to the ant, thou sluggard. 
Consider her ways and be wise. 

Proverbs 6: 6. 

Now them that are such we command and exhort in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and 
eat their own bread. I Thess. 3: 12. 

143 



144 Bible Stu&g 



Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall 
stand before kings. Proverbs 22 : 29. 

Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send 
forth the feet of the ox and the ass. Isaiah 32 : 20. 

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own 
business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged 
you; that ye may walk becomingly toward them that 
are without, and may have need of nothing. 

I Thess. 4: 11-12. 

The laborer is worthy of his hire. Luke id: 7. 

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished; but he 
that gathereth by labor shall have increase. 

Proverbs 13: ii. 

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might. EccLES. 9: 10. 

Commit thy works unto Jehovah, 
And thy purposes shall be established. 

Proverbs 16:3. 

If any will not work, neither let him eat. 

II Thess. 3: 10. 

For God will bring every work into judgment, with 
every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be 
evil. EccL. 12: 14. 



IFn tbe Morft of Xife 145 

WITNESS OF MEN 

Work in every hour, paid or unpaid ; see only that thou 
work, and thou canst not escape the reward; whether 
thy work be fine or coarse, planting corn or writing epics, 
so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, 
it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the 
thought; no matter how often defeated, you are born to 
victory. Reward of a thing well done, is to have done it. 

Emerson. 

The Romans had two proverbs about work, namely: 
"Labor conquers all difficulties,** and "Labor is itself 
apleastire.'* 

He that by the plow would thrive, 
Himself must either hold or drive. 

Franklin. 

"Genius," said ex-President Timothy Dwight of 
Yale, "is the power of making efforts. '' 

I can plod, I can persevere in any definite pursuit. 
To this I owe everything. William Gary. 

What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, 
is in the end of little consequence. The only thing of 
consequence is what we do. Ruskin. 

Genius is subHme toil. Victor Hugo. 

Patience and perseverance turn mulberry leaves into 
satin. Chinese Proverb. 

When Milton lost his sight he wrote : 

** Yet I argue not 
Against Heaven's hand or will, or bate a jot 
Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer 
Right onward.** 



146 Bible Stubs 



Produce. Produce. Were it but the pitifuUest 
infinitesimal fraction of a product, produce it, in God's 
name. 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee: out with it 
then. Up. Up. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, 
do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called 
To-day; for the night cometh wherein no man can work. 

Thomas Carlyle. 

Good solid work is as necessary for the peace of mind 
as it is for the health of the body; in fact the two are 
inseparable. Sir John Lubbock. 

** Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud 
and high 

The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye 
came to die — 

The good that ye did for the sake of men in little earth 
so lone." 

And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain- 
washed bone. 



**0 this I have read in a book/' he said '*and that was 

told to me, 
And this I have thought that another man thought of a 

Prince in Muscovy. " 
The good souls flocked like homing doves and bade him 

clear the path, 
And Peter twirled the jangling keys in weariness and 

wrath. 
*' Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought," he said, 

*' and the tale is yet to run: 
By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer — 
^ What ha* ye done ? ' * Kipling. 



•ffn tbe Morft of Xife 147 

THE MAN WHO WORKS 

Christ was indefatigable in toil. He had a big work to 
do, something that meant incessant industry, that gave 
him no time for foolish fears. He compressed into the 
three years of his public service of which we have a 
written account, a lifetime of service. He took particular 
pains to insist upon the necessity of labor. The man in 
the parable of the talents who failed to make use of his 
gift was cast into outer darkness, the hell of unemployed 
faculties. The man who said he would not go to the 
vineyard, and afterwards repented and went, was com- 
mended rather than the man who promised but did not go . 

The Master said, ''Why do ye say, Lord, Lord, and 
do not the things which I say?" Unproductiveness 
received his severest censure; he could endure anything 
better than idle excuses covering indolence or idleness. 
The fig tree was blasted because it could show no figs; 
the Pharisees received his intense censure because they 
professed and did not make good by their works. Christ 
maintained that such fruitless men and things, whenever 
and wherever found, were to be destroyed, burnt up, 
swept utterly away, in order to free the ground for fruit- 
bearers, producers, creators. Such men, indeed, paved 
the way for their demolition through their inertness and 
the neglect of the exercise of their abilities, bringing 
upon themselves atrophy. Jesus gave work to men for 
the cure of their temptations and troubles. " Watch and 
pray," he said, ''lest ye enter into temptation." 

He also set to work, as the surest salvation, those whom 
he cured in body and in spirit, knowing as he taught that 
the devils rush into an empty house. He enjoined work 
because of the brevity of Hfe, and he gave God, the Father, 
as an example in his creation and care for the world. 

The entire Gospel of Christianity is toward activity 
and positive exertion in "^^ood works," as over against 



148 :Bible Stu&i? 



professions and negative laws and observances. The 
New Testament tells of a Christ of the carpenter shop, 
who sent his disciples forth to teach and to heal, saying 
a servant is not greater than his Lord ; of a Christ who was 
wounded for the transgressions of humanity and bruised 
in his combat with the enemies of men, who always had 
to fight his way, who counted his life not dear to him- 
self, who was straitened until his task could be accom- 
plished, who deliberately gave up his life and found it 
more abundantly, as the grain of wheat which Hterally 
dies in the earth that it may not abide alone — this is the 
Christ who has brought hope and incentive, with the 
example of toil unsevered from tranquillity, to the labor- 
ing children of men. 

I have just witnesLsed a most dissatisfying representa- 
tion of the Passion of Christ in a play by peasants in the 
Austrian Tyrol. It was a '' Passion Play," but without 
passion or any powerful impulse. The actors seemed to 
have missed the very essence of the Master's character- 
istic, his forcefulness as a combatant against evil, a man 
with a mission for service. The active principle of effort, 
the contagious enthusiasm of a crusader or a pioneer, was 
entirely absent. I saw only a weak, effeminate, pale, and 
spiritless being representing the Man of Nazareth, a humi- 
liated buffer between those whose chief business was to 
ridicule and smite him as he moved about abstractedly. 
They showed us a passionless and missionless being 
without purpose or personality, unsuccessful and defeated. 
There was no fire of action about his presence, no iron in 
his blood. There were no moments of real victorious 
manhood, no sense of achievement such as we invariably 
connect with the Son of Man. This pitiable victim of 
circumstance, which we saw, was the medieval conception 
of the " Man of Sorrows/' It was no wonder that there was 
little or no impulse to applause or to service, stirred in the 



Hn tbe Morft of %itc 149 

hearts of the great audience — only a few women's tears 
for an unfortunate creature of environment were the 
result of the picture presented to us by the imagination 
of the Austrian peasants. 

Such was not the Christ of the Gospels, whose dom- 
inating career filled the minds of the early Christians, 
before whose conquering figure rulers shrank as before a 
power they could not understand, and from whose path 
of deeds his enemies and his obstacles were swept as 
thistledown before the wind. This militant Christ 
commanded his followers, *^Go work to-day," and led 
the march, through days and nights of unceasing and 
unwearied preaching and teaching, traveling by foot, 
healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, hurling 
his thunderbolts of woe against all the doddering, stag- 
nant usurpers of a merely professional religion. He gave 
us the portrait of one who toils in his prayers. 

Here was no colorless, yielding, sad-eyed nature, making 
little or no appeal to strong men; such portraits of Christ 
have always been a travesty upon real Christianity. 
Those who have caught the spirit of the New Testament 
have found it a driving power to action, they have kept 
their nerves strong as did Paul with ''labors more abun- 
dant.'* It was a regnant, purposeful being whom the 
disciples followed out to service and to martyrdom; he 
inspired, he brought hope, he made the dead alive, with 
an energy that no passive or inactive being could possibly 
reveal. He was the Christ of work. 

This real Jesus of social and human sympathies, the 
Christ of the brotherhood of man, is the master of present- 
day religion; he is taking firmer hold than ever upon the 
life of our times, in so far as men have proved themselves 
capable of sweeping past antiquated middle-aged con- 
ceptions of him and of the Church theological, going 
directly to the Gospels for their ideas of religion. Men 



150 Bible Stut)^ 



are finding in the outspoken attitude towards sin of 
every form, a brace for their drooping and half-hearted 
liberaHsm; those who would wage holy war against 
modern vice or impurity, or against public or private 
wrong, find their texts in the parables and the words of 
Jesus. The prophet who dared to face the leaders of the 
Church of his day with the virile pronouncement of 
** adulterers," because they looked upon a woman to lust 
after her, even though they had not carried their desires 
to fulfillment, is making men appear foolish enough 
when they turn out of their churches or away from their 
friendly aid the poor humans who sin publicly, while their 
accusers, if honest in their hearts, go out self -condemned. 
It is this triumphant, this hopeful, this active and 
serviceable note of the captain of the world's religious 
salvation which we need in our social and civic wars 
against the drink that is spoiling the nation's youth, 
against sham and pretence both within and without 
the confines of the Church, against saintly pietism that 
harks back to the sixteenth century for its models and 
is too lazy to think out Christ's spirit and method for 
the present age, against the traffic in white slaves, against 
the stealing by men in high and low life ; the age cries out 
for the religion of deeds and daring and determination. 
The times call for construction, not insurgency in religion. 
Men of to-day are ready to march forth in a war whose 
watchword is action and only in such an one. There are 
indications that, not only in America but in all parts of 
the world, leaders are being raised up to sing this refrain, 
this marseillaise of labor : 

''The Son of God goes forth to war, 
A kingly crown to gain. 
His blood-red banner streams afar, 
Who follows in his train? 



•ffn tbe Morft of Xlte 151 

Who best can drink his cup of woe, 

Triumphant over pain, 
Who patient bears his cross below, 

He follows in his train." 

I can conceive of no real Christian who does not work 
more than he prays. Christ taught us prayer, but his 
life was spent in serving, not praying, unless we may say, 
and justly, that his whole life was a prayer in its minister- 
ing rather than being ministered unto. By his example 
of laborious days we are led on to our own personal vic- 
tories. 

The Christian religion has dignified forever work and 
honest toil. Nothing great ever happens without it. 
Work always wins, in the end over mere genius, mere talk ; 
it wins over intellect, beauty, nature, over fine theories, 
political, religious, theological, yes, over inert goodness. 
God is with the worker wherever he lives and wherever 
he works, providing he toils sincerely at a genuine and 
worthy task. You can never overcome a real worker; 
he is solidly and confidently founded upon what he has 
done and is doing, like a house that builds itself upon a 
rock rather than upon shifting sand. The future as well 
as the present belongs to him. "One day it shall delight 
you also to remember labor done," says Boswell of 
Johnson. The worker knows that he can leave his cause, 
to use Gladstone's phrase, to the certain ** arbitrament of 
time," and he is serene. It is only the idle, hesitant, 
wavering man whose soul is filled with qualms and fears. 

Two friends of mine in my college class have interested 
me greatly since their graduation. One was a brilliant 
prize-winner, the other a dull plodder. Seven years 
after graduation I found the prize-winner out in the Far 
West in a small office as a second-rate barrister, wliile tlie 
man who stood almost at the foot of his class, who was 



152 Bible Stu&p 



always ridiculed because he could not make a speech 
in his fraternity debating exercises, and who was obliged 
to miss many of the social events of his college career 
because he was running a boarding-house to pay his 
student expenses, was one of the busiest and most 
successful physicians in a large Eastern city, with a 
considerable income, and was sending two of his brothers 
through college. One day I asked him, ^' Why ?" '' I just 
work," he answered. That was the secret and the real 
secret. I learned that he had hardly taken a week off in 
five years, but regardless of his feelings or circumstances, 
had devoted himself to his profession. In contrasting 
these two men, the thing that is impressive is not that a 
dull man should necessarily succeed more surely than a 
bright man, but that the bright man with this unquench- 
able power for work belonging to his fellow-student, 
might have gone far in advance of his handicapped friend. 

Any man can overcome his sorrows, his defeats, his 
defects of education, even his weakness of disposition 
and temperament, if he is willing to work hard enough at 
some worth-while task. *After a firm faith in God there 
is no secret of success but work, work, work, Kipling 
has fitly painted Heaven in his ''L'envoi,*' as a place where 
men "shall work for an age at a sitting, and never be 
tired at all." The late President WilUam R. Harper 
of Chicago University, when he died, said that his 
greatest wish was that Heaven would give him some 
larger work to do. The Rector of the University of 
Zurich, from whom I asked the secret of the splendid 
progress so evident in all kinds of institutions in Switzer- 
land, replied, ''We like to work." 

Give us men who like to work, men who can persevere 
at working, men who toil upwards in the night while 
their companions sleep, men who do not expect hard 
things to be easy, who realize that victory is worth 



irn tbe Wiov\\ of Xife 153 

nothing without struggle, men who are wilHng to pay for 
the prizes of Hfe by serving, and we shall have institu- 
tions and nations increasingly great and worthy, guided 
and ruled over by the uncrowned kings of toil. 

** Strike hands, my brother man, 
'Tis yours with voice and act and pen, 
*Tis yours to paint the morning red, 
That ushers in the grander day. 
So may each unjust cord be broke, 
Each toiler find his just reward. 
And life sound forth a truer chord.'* 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

Which do you think more deeply influenced the dis- 
ciples of Jesus, his teaching or his work? 

Which made the deeper impression upon the people of 
his time? 

It would seem that social Christianity is gaining over 
theological Christianity to-day in America. 

Is this to be regretted? Is there a danger here? 

Which naturally comes first, a man's creed or a man's 
work? 

Which would you prefer to have, genius or the ability 
to work hard in the face of great discouragement? 

Thomas Huxley, who became one of the most brilliant 
and successful lecturers of his time, after his first Royal 
Institution lecture received an anonymous letter recom- 
mending him never to try it again, for whatever else he 
might be fitted for, it was not for giving lectures. 

What arc the greater works meant by Christ when he 
said, '*and greater works than these shall he do" ? 

John 14: 12. 



154 3Bible Stu&s in tbe Morft of Xife 

Theodore Roosevelt once said to his classmates at Har- 
vard, ** There are two kinds of men in the world who 
succeed, the man who succeeds because of his unique 
power of intellect, and the man who succeeds because he 
sees the thing that ought to be done, that every one 
admits ought to be done, and while others are talking 
about it, goes and does it.'* 

Is it true that much good work is imperilled by over- 
consideration? 

Is there any real recreation for a man who does not 
work? 

Is amusement the same thing as recreation? 

Do you think that change of work is sufficient recrea- 
tion for the average man? 

Can a man be truly a Christian if he keeps his Chris- 
tianity and religion to himself? 

John 15: 2; Matt. 5: 13-16. 

In many cases the laboring man feels that the Church 
is not his friend. What means would you suggest for 
bringing the working man and the Church into closer 
co-operation? 

If our cares and worries are simply mental, the result 
of turning the mind inward too constantly, is not work, 
which places the thoughts upon things outside, the 
remedy for our ills? 

God's Promises: Isaiah 33: 15-17; Proverbs 16:3;! 3: 
11; 8: 18-21; Psalms 128: 1-4; 24: 3-5; Hebrews 
6:7-8; Psalms 127:1-2; Isaiah 55. Read Psalm 
34. 



XII 
Do We Really Believe God ? 



155 



XII 

DO WE REALLY BELIEVE GOD? 

Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto him 
for righteousness. Gal. 3 : 6. 

Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a con- 
viction of things not seen. Heb. ii : i. 

Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. 

Luke 7 : 50. 

And that Kfe which I now live in the flesh, I live in 
faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me 
and gave himself up for me. Gal. 2 : 20. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word 
and believeth him that sent me hath eternal life and 
Cometh not into judgment, but has passed out of death 
into life. John 5:24. 

Jesus said unto her, Said I not ujito thee, that if 
thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 

John i i : 40. 

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, 
Why could not we cast it out? And he saith unto 
them, Because of your little faith; for verily I say unto 
you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall 
say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; 
and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto 
you. Matt. 17: 19-20. 

157 



158 JSible Stu&p 



By faith we understand that the worlds have been 
framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not 
been made out of things which appear . . . and without 
faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto him; for 
he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that 
he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. 

Hebrews ii: 3, 6. 

And he said unto him, Arise and go thy way; thy 
faith hath^made thee whole. Luke 17: 19. 

And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath 
made thee whole; go in peace. Luke 8: 48. 

And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, 
even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the 
world, but he that belie veth that Jesus is the Son of God? 

I John 5: 4-5. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath 
eternal life. John 6: 47. 

For which cause I suffer also these things ; yet I am not 
ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and I 
am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have 
committed unto him against that day. Hold the pattern 
of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith 
and love which is in Christ Jesus. II Tim. i : 12-13. 

And Jesus answering saith unto them. Have faith in 
God. Verily I say unto you. Whosoever shall say unto 
this mountain. Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; 
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that 
what He saith cometh to pass, he shall have it. 

Mark ii: 22-23. 



In tbe Morft of Xlfe 159 

And by faith in his name hath his name made this 
man strong whom ye behold and know: yea, the faith 
which is through him hath given him this perfect sound- 
ness in the presence of you all. Acts 3: i6. 



WITNESS OF MEN 

Attempt great things for God — Expect great things of 
God. William Gary. 

We die when our faith dies — our power is not a power 
of genius but an almightiness of belief. 

Joseph Parker. 

A mushroom spawn can lift a paving stone because the 
substantial life in it is a part of the one life pulsing through 
all. ''Have the faith of God," said Jesus. It is as 
though he had said, Call into operation the life of God 
within you, turn it towards God; for believing is an atti- 
tude, a mirror placed at the proper angle. 

Dean Wilberforce. 

I know not what the future hath of marvel or surprise, 
Assured alone that life and death his mercy underlies; 

I know not where His islands lift their fronded palms 

in air, 
I only know I cannot drift beyond His love and care. 

WniTTIKR. 

True faith is no mere intellectual exercise. The faith 

which is enjoined on us is a Hvinj^^ faitli, and faith witliout 
works is dead. Selden compares faith and works to 



i6o JSxble Stut)? 



light and heat: ''Though in my intellect I may divide 
them, just as in the candle I know there is both light and 
heat; yet put out the candle and both are gone. '' 

Sir John Lubbock. 

Thou askest why Christ, so lenient to the deed, 
So sternly claims the faith which founds the creed; 
Because, reposed in faith, the soul has calm; 
The hope a haven, and the wound a balm; 
Because the light, dim seen in Reason's dream, 
On all alike, through faith alone, could stream. 
God willed support to weakness, Joy to grief. 
And so descended from His throne, Belief. 

Sir E. B. Lytton. 

Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 

Whom we, that have not seen thy face. 
By faith, and faith alone, embrace, 

Believing where we cannot prove. 

Tennyson. 

But we are all too little inclined to faith ; we are all, in 
our serious moments, too much inclined to forget that all 
are sinners, and fall justly by their faults, and therefore 
that we have no more to do with that than with the 
thunder-cloud ; only to trust, and do our best, and wear as 
smiling a face as may be for others and ourselves. 

R. L. Stevenson. 

Oh, thou of little faith, lift up thine eyes. 
Are the ten thousand glorious stars of night 
But a vain dream, because thy feeble sight 

May not behold them in the noonday skies? 

Mary Howitt. 



Ifn tbe Morft of Xife i6i 

DO WE REALLY BELIEVE GOD? 

A certain man outside the Christian Church said to a 
prominent missionary worker in China who was con- 
stantly worried and troubled about trifles, ''You are not a 
Christian. You ask me to believe in your God and you 
really do not believe in Him yourself. If He is the God 
who gives peace, and protects His people from care and 
anxiety, why don't you trust Him?" 

FAITH IN GOD ELIMINATES FEAR 

Fitting questions for every person regardless of his 
profession would be in all sincerity to ask: ''Do I really 
believe God?*' "Is there anything in my life that 
would prove to one who did not believe in God that a 
fundamental principle in Christianity is faith ?" 

The primal cause of American breakdown has been 
attributed by a famous physician to "those absurd feeHngs 
of hurry and care, to that breathlessness and tension, that 
anxiety of future and solicitude of results, revealing the 
lack of inner harmony and ease,'' without which good 
work cannot be accomplished. The man who gives us 
the impression of the old Scriptural motto, " In quietness 
and confidence shall be your strength,'' is none too 
common in these days. 

One returns from the Orient where so much of life lies 
in the "to-morrow" and where the passive virtues of 
patience and ability-to-wait arc cultivated far more 
generally than in the West, to feci, in the midst of our 
straining waste of energy, frequently over things that 
are non-essential, a sense of misfortune. It is useless to 
say to a man, " Do not worry, " for if that is all you can 
suggest to him, he will reply, "I must worry, I cannot 
help but worry." You must sink his thought into 



i62 JSible Stut)p 



deeper resources, he must discover a fundamental reason 
for quietude and trust in a power greater than himself, 
greater than his own splendid accomplishments, greater 
than his friends, greater than his money, since there come 
times in the life of every man when one and all of these 
are inadequate. 

It is not necessary that a man should wait for 
failure and physical breakdown in order that he may 
learn to believe in a God who is capable of banishing 
care and the sense of strain from his work and from his 
life. It is not necessary that a man stop work, for work 
is helpful, it is the veritable salvation of most men; only 
worry and fear are the sure forerunners of disease. One 
meets in travel a goodly percentage of people who are 
trying to travel out of the reach of their illnesses or their 
fears, and who are often most in fear of the events and 
calamities that never occur. 

**Half of the ills we hoard within our hearts 
Are ills because we hoard them. " 

Have you ever stopped to think that a Christian has 
the inalienable right to an inheritance of peace? It is his 
birthright at the hand of Christ, who gave it as his last 
bequest. ''My peace I give unto you; not as the world 
giveth give I unto you; let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid. '* It is the Christian's privilege to 
cast all of his cares and anxieties upon God, who really 
cares for him. The faithless man should read for a 
month, every morning, the nth chapter of Hebrews or the 
14th chapter of John. He should stop to consider that 
virtually every miracle that Jesus wrought was seemingly 
for the purpose of instilling in the minds of the people a 
steady confidence, a faith in God the Father to heal, 
not only from bodily but also from spiritual ills. 



fn tbe Morft of Xffe 163 

The great events in the history of the Church have 
been the events of faith. Luther while cHmbing up 
the stairs of the Wartburg discovered the sentence of 
Paul which became the battle-cry of the Reformation, 
'*The just shall live by faith.*' That phrase with its 
far-reaching implications was a sustaining source of 
strength to the great German reformer throughout his 
career. There is no other reason but faith to ascribe to 
the courage which nerved the hand that nailed those 
memorable theses to the door, when Luther cried, "So 
help me God, I cannot do otherwise.'* The history of 
great statesmanship as well as the story of martyrdom is 
the history of the trials and the conquests of men who 
have believed in God. The sailing of the Mayflou^er was 
the adventure of Christians who had seen their own 
vision of their own God and could not forget. If you 
believe you can, providing you believe strongly enough 
not only in your own powers but in the sustaining divine 
sufficiency, you can. When you read God's promises do 
you realize that He truly means them? That He means 
you when He utters such words as, '' I will never leave you 
nor forsake you, " that the following is a direct challenge 
to your faith: ''Be strong and of good courage; be not 
affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for Jehovah thy 
God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" ? 

Do we really beUeve God? Are we actually accepting 
the heritage, the divine possibilities of our lives, do we 
claim enough for ourselves? The faith in God which 
eliminates fcarfulness and terror from life, replacing 
them with unfaltering and unhesitant progress, is the 
indispensable accompaniment to all success that is 
worthy of the name. This implicit belief that somehow, 
somewhere, clouds will break, that God and not Satan is 
running the world, and that all things do actually work 
together for good to those who believe in Him, this casting 



1 64 Bible Stu&p 



all your care upon one who is capable and willing and 
waiting to assist us, this is faith, and there is no fear 
while you have faith. 

FAITH IN GOD BRINGS THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE 

But faith is more than the elimination of fear. It has 
a positive side and an active test. Belief in God is not 
complete in the minds of men who wall themselves as in a 
citadel, calmly and supinely trusting Providence to save 
them from their enemies; it is an element driving men 
forth from their fortresses to combat with their obstacles 
and their enemies, saving not simply their citadel but 
the surrounding country as well. 

Belief in God calls out our best, our greatest action. 
'^Show me your faith without your works and I will 
show you my faith by my works.'' When in that 
striking and picturesque event narrated in Isaiah, the 
conqueror from Edom overcame Israel's foe, it was for 
a purpose. It occurred that the shadow of her enemy 
should no longer haunt the chosen nation, it occurred in 
order that Judah might be free to go forth and work out 
her destiny and become what she never could have 
realized without the assurance of God's care and strength 
behind her. Religious belief is for the purpose of making 
a religious life formidable. Its final test is that it works. 

It is for this daring to enter upon difficult things in the 
world's work that the vision of God through faith comes 
to men. Such belief makes men ''eccentric" as Henry 
Drummond used to say. They begin working from a 
new center with a new vision. People of his time called 
Jesus beside himself, the boys pointed to their heads when 
Columbus walked along the streets, Paul was called mad, 
Newton and Morse, and even in later days our pioneer 
aviators, have received uncomplimentary titles for their 



In tbe IKaorft of Xife 165 

rashness and their daring. What have men ever accom- 
pUshed when they have not been borne out to their goal 
upon a great wave of personal vision and conviction 
regarding their work and their power to accompUsh it ? 

When Livingstone went down into Africa, the osten- 
sible object which his countrymen saw was a wild, 
adventurous plan of exploration. They did not see the 
hand invisible, and, perhaps, Livingstone himself rather 
felt than saw it, the hand which not only guided but 
supported the messenger of civilization and progress. 
It was said that although the black men could not un- 
derstand the language of this white Englishman, they 
nevertheless did understand his life and their dark faces 
changed when he moved in and out amongst them. 
They felt his faith. It magnetized conditions. 

What have we ever really dared that we could not do 
alone? Have we attempted great things and have we 
expected great results? Have we had faith enough in 
the final outcome to plod along patiently at routine 
tasks? In order to have a great result in any department 
of life, one must have a great task, and in order to accom- 
plish great tasks in the larger sense, one must possess 
the assurance that there is a God, and that He has made 
to individuals definite promises, promises that He will 
surely fulfill. 

You may lose your friends, your money, your health, 
but if you keep your faith in Almighty God, your Helper 
and Deliverer, if you never say die but plod persistently, 
ever invincibly, on — on — on — then you are unconquer- 
able, the world will make way for you, you will reveal to 
modern life another man who believes God. 

"If God be for us, who can be against us?'* 



i66 3Bible Stut)i? 



QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION 

According to the Bible how can a man obtain faith in 
God? Psalms 34 : 8 ; I John 5 : 4-5 ; Rom. 1:17. 

Is faith consistent with scientific or natural law? 
What kind of things has a man the right to believe will be 
given him in answer to prayers of faith? 

What is the difference between Christian faith and 
fatalism? 

Is God limited by ntmibers in working a great work? 
I Sam. 14; Judges 7:7; Joshua 23: 10. 

Some people say faith is ''just trust. '' Do you think 
that God wishes His children to believe in violation of 
their reason? 

Is belief in Christ's miracles necessary for being a 
Christian? 

Think what Paul meant in his teaching. 

Eph.2: 8-9;ICor. 16: I3;Gal.2:20. 

Do you think a man is saved by believing or by 
working? Or by both? Which comes first? 

Romans 4 : 3-5 ; Eph. 3:17; Gal. 5:6; James 2 : 22-26. 

What is your conception of ''being saved"? 

Christian faith is necessary for salvation. Just what 
is Christian faith? Acceptance of the Athanasian Creed 
or saying we believe in the Apostolic succession? 

What was Christ's teaching? John ii : 25-26. 



Bible Stubs in tbe Morft of Xite 167 

Jesus' words of assurance to his disciples were authori- 
tative. Has a Christian any right to become timid and 
fearful? 

Marks: 36; Mark 9: 23; John 6: 35;! John 5: 1-6; 
Psalms 42: 5. 

Did not Christ say over and over again, "Fear not/' 
''Care not," ''Be not anxious," "O, thou of little 
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" "Have faith in 
God," "Upon this rock will I build my Church and the 
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it," "For it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom"? 

In all his healing of the sick Jesus made the question 
uppermost, "Believest thou?" What do you think was 
his underlying purpose in his healing of the sick? 

God's Promises: Isaiah 41:10; Acts 10:43; Mark 
16: 16-19; John 12: 36, 46; Hebrews 11: 6; I Peter 
1:3-9; I Tim. 4:10; Matt. 21:21-22; Mark 
9:23; Dan. 6: 23; John 14:10-15; Rom. 15:13; 
Jer. 17 : 7-9. Read Ephesians 6; Psalm 107. 



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